ACH
by Unleashed Reasoning
Summary: A Clone's Heart... double the trouble and double the confusion. What is our favorite redheaded hero to do? And Shego in a WHAT!
1. The Mission

**A/N: **Well! Here goes another one! Hope you like it as much as the others! Especially since it took me three times longer to post it because fixing txt document transfers takes a looooot longer. Hence, posting will take me a mite longer then normal. So, forgive me for the delay!

Happy reading! And I own nothing! Well, except Mik and the plot, hehe.

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She stared in shock. She just couldn't believe her eyes. Really, how could she? Did they really expect her to be OKAY with this? Surely this was a joke. They must be playing an ultimately huge prank because she'd been a little spacey recently. She bit her lip. The only bad thing was the serious looking faces staring back at her.

"Miss Possible?" asked Dr. Director. Kim's face visibly paled.

"You okay KP?" asked Ron. He gave her a worried frown. Kim couldn't muster an answer. Her eyes were locked on the large metal vault looking door in front of her. An invisible tremor ran down her spine.

"Miss Possible, are you ready?" asked the Director. She looked a little hesitant because Kim had visibly deflated in front of her. Kim had to swallow a couple times before she could answer.

"Yeah... Yeah, no big." She smiled weakly. It took all her strength to step forward and through the vault door. Everyone, her family, Ron, Dr. Director, and even Will Du, watched her enter. They exchanged worried frowns as another agent pushed the door closed. Kim heard the resounding locks sliding into place behind her. It made her stomach drop out beneath her.

"I'm so dead," she whispered to herself.

Kim stared out into a vastly overgrown jungle spread out far in front of her. It almost blew her mind that this jungle had been put inside a huge building on a small island that hadn't been recorded on any maps. She could only feel slightly relieved that her stay here wouldn't be recorded. She frowned. Or so she hoped. If she found any hidden cameras, ANYWHERE, she would have some butts to kick.

She sighed. This wasn't getting her anywhere. She scanned the jungle again, trying to figure out where to begin.

They hadn't exactly expressed this as a mission. More like a favor. But weren't all her missions favors? She groaned again. She didn't have a clue what they expected of her. They told her there would be simulated weather. They told her she would basically be surviving off of her own skills and instincts. There were even supposed to be native insects and animals roaming around, including predators. They also told her that three other people had been put in here, as well as a couple of new species that they had genetically altered.

Actually, one person had somehow gotten pulled in by mistake, so half of this was a rescue mission. The other half seemed to be basic survival. No cameras, no help. In the end, she had fifty days to find the others and manage to find the exit. The OTHER exit, the only one she could access from the inside.

The only reason this whole thing didn't appeal to her at all was because of the fact the major reason they'd thrown her in here was to see if she could convince one well known thief into changing sides. If she didn't, Kim had to find a way to incapacitate her.

The really, REALLY bad thing about that was the thief was pissed at her. She had thrown the woman into an electrical tower, after all. At that moment in time, she honestly hadn't felt any remorse. Later, after it sunk in what she'd done... BIG self reproach.

She could already imagine the thief's angry eyes and vicious snarl. Kim shivered, an imagined feeling of plasma scorching her skin. Sometimes, she seriously hated that woman's plasma.  
Other then Shego, neither of the others had been named. Talk about sending her in blind. She didn't even know what she was supposed to do with the last person.

She sighed and fingered the knife belted to her waist. It was the only tool they allowed her.  
Rubbing her forehead, she trotted off into the thick foliage, trying desperately not to think about what the real motives behind this were.

A loud thunderous boom filled the air. Kim blinked, eyes quickly darting upward. Unfortunately, the jungle was so thick, she couldn't make out anything but some dim sunlight streaking through the leaves. As she squinted upward, something cold and wet fell onto her eyelid, making her jerk slightly in surprise.

"A storm already?" Kim groaned, quickly scanning her surroundings. "No telling how bad it will be," she mumbled. She quickly hacked off several large leaves and began arranging them into a half hazard shelter. She finished putting it together just as the sky opened up and began releasing bucket loads of water.

Kim huddled under her makeshift shelter, a small frown on her lips. Not a fantastic way to spend her first day. She hadn't even cleared a mile yet. She hadn't found water, and... Wait, water. She need to catch some of this. Hopefully it wasn't harmful to drink.

She hacked off some more leaves. She carefully rolled them into tight cones and tied them in place with more leaves. Finishing about three of those, she held them out to fill up one by one. After filling the last one, she drank as much water as her stomach would allow then refilled it.  
Feeling the water slosh in her stomach, Kim leaned up against the tree trunk behind her and let her mind wander.

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Kim blinked. Instant realization that the sun was blinding her finally flooded her mind. She rolled her head to get the kinks out of her neck, her mind a blur of confusion.

"Where am... Oh..." Sighing, she got up from her small little shelter and stretched. She looked down at her stored water. They were about half empty because she hadn't sealed them well enough. Water had slowly leaked out. She rubbed her eyes then bent down to drink what was left in them. She couldn't afford to waste any water, not until she found another source.

Kim glanced around, slightly dazed and disoriented. Shrugging because she didn't really have a set destination to begin with, she just took off in a direction. A part of her realized she should keep track of her progress, so as not to go in circles, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

She frowned.

"Since when have I not cared?" she muttered. Had she become so lackadaisical? Was that why they had tossed her out here?

She frowned, her pace becoming more hurried.

She had felt bored, irritated with recent missions. She grew impatient and flippant with things she used to really enjoy. It didn't make any sense. What had changed?

"Monkey Fist is out doing something somewhere and no one can find him," she muttered to herself, trying to go through a list of foes and reasons for her odd behavior. "Drakken has been quiet, and when he's shown up, Shego hasn't been around. Gemini has been grumbling away to himself and not causing any serious problems. And even Dementor has been quiet." Kim frowned, feeling she hadn't gotten anywhere.

If anything, this type of thing should make her nervous, edgy. Instead, she'd actually gotten bored with her work. Ron had almost had to drag her out to several of their last missions.

Cheerleading... jeeze, she'd even handed her title over to Bonnie and walked out of the gym, bluntly saying she quit.

She smiled slightly.

It had been highly amusing to see Bonnie's jaw flapping soundlessly. It was the first time she had seriously shut the girl up. Actually, it was the first time she'd ever seen Bonnie so flabbergasted. She found the whole parental berating worth it just for that look on Bonnie's face.

Kim paused.

Instead of keeping up with cheerleading, she had actually focused her attention on kickboxing and weightlifting. There wasn't really a point to it. She just needed to do something to keep moving, but she didn't want to put up with the whole cheerleading factor. Kim frowned. Her whole pattern of behavior was changing. It was like... like she was...

"You piece of-!" bellowed a voice, effectively knocking Kim out of her stupor.

Kim whipped her head up and began concentrating. She huffed at herself for not being alert enough to pinpoint the direction of the voice. Sighing, she picked her best bet and took off, praying she wasn't wrong.

Kim ran wildly through the vegetation, slowly starting to pick up on the sounds of struggle. She tried to focus on the noise, allowing her direction to change accordingly. She burst out of the vegetation.

She blinked, her stomach flipping. She looked down to see herself several feet above a river. With a short cry of alarm, she plummeted down into the murky brown water. Shocked at the warmth of the water, Kim came sputtering to the surface.

"Freakin, stupid..." she grumbled, swimming over to a large root hanging over the river. She pulled herself up onto the root to hover over the water, eyes scanning her surroundings.

A wave of brown water sloshed over her, Kim nearly knocked from her perch.

Kim growled after the water passed, glaring around to find the cause of the wave.

There, standing on the back of a large serpent, Shego stood with her hands alight, smirking up at the serpent's head that eyed the green skinned woman hungrily.

"Figures," she muttered. She sighed.

She blinked. Was Shego wearing a leather loincloth and top?

Kim frowned. That didn't make much...

SPLASH!

Kim was doused again as Shego dodged the snake's lunge and threw herself on the back of its head, both crashing into the water.

Kim spit out a mouthful of water, pushing her long red hair out of her eyes. She glared up at it, seriously thinking about taking her old sensei's advice and cutting most off it off for convenience sake. Kim eyed Shego's long black mane tied back by a simple leather strap. She had no idea how the woman maintained that long mane.

She sighed, watching as Shego continued to duke it out with the snake. She wasn't very much pressed into helping. After all, she felt a little sorry for the snake.

CRACK!

Kim rolled her eyes as Shego smashed her hands so hard into the snakes head that it crashed down onto a log and sent parts of it splintering. The snake tried to slither off, but Shego grinned wildly, catching the thing by its long tail and halting its progress.

"Ah, ah, ah! You attack me, expect an easy dinner, and now you're running away? I'm feeling a little hungry myself. How bout we turn the tables?"

Kim didn't even flinch when Shego basically ripped the snake's head off. Usually, such a brutal act would have at least made her cover her eyes or look the other way.

The sound of clapping filled the air.

It took a moment for Kim to realize that she was the one clapping.

Shego whirled instantly, hands lighting up. As soon as she saw Kim, she growled.

"What are you doing here? Don't you ever go away?" sneered Shego.

Kim decided she wasn't really in a recruiting mood. She only shrugged.

"Don't blame me. This wasn't my idea either."

Shego continued frowning, remaining in a fighting stance. Kim didn't move. She sat on the root and pretty much stared off into space.

Shego's frown deepened. Was she getting dismissed?

"Seriously Princess, what are you doing here?"

Kim finally brought her focus back to Shego. She mentally frowned at herself. Why was her mind wandering with SHEGO standing not twenty feet away? Something must seriously be wrong with her.

"Honestly, I don't know. They threw me in here out of the blue." Kim sighed, trying to run her fingers through her hair. Her fingers ended up getting tangled up in the wet mess, and she growled in irritation. She tried to pull her hand free, but only ended up in making the mess worse. Okay, that's it.

Kim yanked out her dagger and began hacking off her hair.

Shego watched in complete shock as Kim hacked away all her hair until it was a ragged cut that ran across her forehead, below her ears, and just touched her collar in the back. Satisfied, Kim put the knife away and scowled as she tried to rid herself of the wet hair clinging to her hands.  
Kim balanced herself on the root enough to pull her knees under her chin at look down at Shego in a calm sort of patient look.

It unnerved Shego to no end. She'd never seen the redhead act like this. Not once.

"What the heck is wrong with you Kimmie?" demanded the thief, a deep frown on her lips.  
Kim shrugged dismissively, her attention wandering again because the thief wasn't doing anything interesting. Randomly, Kim kicked her legs forward then let her torso fall over backwards. She caught herself from falling headfirst into the river by catching the root under her knees. She swung back and forth in boredom, hands twined behind her head.

The action only confused the thief further. What was going on?! The Kimmie she knew wouldn't be this flippant at all! The redhead wouldn't even allow herself to relax enough to look away from the thief if she were in her presence.

"I'm hungry," said the redhead, completely out of the blue. Shego frowned.

"Well I ain't sharing."

Kim blinked then leaned back and caught the root with her hands, straightening her legs. Her feet came to swing down below her as she regarded the green thief coolly.

"I wasn't asking you to. I was just thinking I need to find my own breakfast." Kim looked below her. "And there it is."

Kim let go of the root and twisted just enough to dive into the water. Shego could only stare where the redhead disappeared. After several seconds, where Shego was starting to wonder if the redhead was going to come back up, Kim surfaced. She went back to the root and climbed up back to her old perch. She un-tucked her shirt and pulled out a large fish.

Shego's jaw almost dropped.

She knew Kim could do, well, the impossible. But even this didn't quite seem... Kimmie like.  
Shego stalked over to the tree that the root belonged to. She scowled down at the redhead, one hand braced on the tree trunk.

"You're not Kimmie."

Kim blinked, pausing in her task of gutting the fish. She looked up at Shego blankly.

"Huh?"

"You're not Kimmie."

Kim hooted in laughter, causing the thief to take a step back.

"Course I'm not!" answered "Kim".

"What the hell?! Where's Kimmie?!" demanded Shego. "Why do you have her face?!"

"Kim" blinked, brow scrunching up. She opened her mouth, then let it snap closed. Right, she wasn't really supposed to say. She scratched her head. But then again, Shego had been the only one to discover the folly. And though Kim and her had been rivals/enemies for... well, several years now, she didn't exactly see the thief exploiting anything unless it was to her gain.

Which it wouldn't be.

But, there was also the matter of explaining everything. Oh boy...

"Kimmie is going to kill me," she muttered, causing Shego to arc a confused eyebrow. "Kimmie calls me Mik. Guess you could say I'm Kim's evil twin."

Shego blinked. Blinked again...

"Say what?"

Mik shrugged, attention back on gutting her fish.

"I'm her evil twin, of sorts. Well, maybe not evil, but certainly the horribly less innocent one. On one of her missions, she got covered in some scientific goop that basically created another her. But I'm not her. I have her memories, but I'm not Kimmie. Anyway, she basically hid me away, with good reason, of course. She couldn't quite bring herself to kill off a living being, cause I'm nothing like those clones that Drakken made. I'm my own person. I just share her genetic makeup. Anyway, she couldn't keep calling me 'hey you', so she called me Mik. I have my own basic set of skills and talents, most of which I did receive from her. But again, I'm my own person."

Shego frowned, rubbing her head in irritation.

"That doesn't tell me where Kimmie's at."

Mik shrugged.

"She's on vacation, you could say. She's been stressing out about some stuff." Mik frowned slightly, as if worried. She quickly dismissed the look. "Anyway, every now and then I take her place and basically handle her normal routines."

Shego frowned.

"And no one knows? That seems rather far fetched."

Mik paused in her work again.

"I think they're starting to see something's off. I'm usually pretty good at playing Kimmie, but she's... needed a lot more space this time. I've been 'playing' her for over... four months now. I think she's going to be a little mad that I've... made a few changes."

"Changes?" echoed Shego. She was still trying to digest that this girl wasn't Kimmie.

Mik shrugged.

"Basically quit cheerleading and... kind of quit taking her science classes."

Shego blinked again.

"Why isn't Kimmie here? Wouldn't she be the one out here on this mission? Did you even tell her about it?"

Mik frowned, angrily getting to her feet and leaping to the shore side as far away from Shego as she could manage.

"It's none of your business, alright?" She stormed off into the jungle, leaving a bewildered Shego behind.

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Mik sat fuming high in a tree. She had cooked and devoured her fish a long time ago. She was already starting to feel the pangs of hunger again. She huffed at herself.

She shouldn't have let Shego's words bother her. Shego didn't know anything.

Mik frowned.

Course, nobody else knew anything either. Sometimes she wondered if SHE knew anything. There were times...

No. She shouldn't think about that. She shuddered. No. Not of that.

Mik climbed to her feet and began walking along the thick branches, easily crossing between them. She was too unsettled to sit still. She hadn't ever been faced with anyone actually questioning her on her actions. Everyone was fooled. If they weren't, they still thought she was Kim. They still didn't blame her. No one blamed Mik. No one knew she existed but for one other person.

Mik felt her eyes burn a bit and angrily blinked her eyes until they were clear.

Kim didn't mean any of it. Kim wasn't the one to blame. Kim didn't know how to handle everything. Kim is still... growing up. She's still idealistic. Kim was only trying her best to make everything better. She could never blame Kim. Never.

Kim could have chosen to alert the authorities. If she had, Mik would have been killed. Clones, real, self functioning and thinking clones weren't yet accepted. It was still ethically unsound. Most of society probably would have demanded her destruction.

But, Kim had managed to find an old abandoned hideout villains used to use. She and Mik had cleaned it up and made it livable. Then, Kim made sure to keep her hidden and provide her with food, schooling, entertainment, and even training. They sparred on a nearly daily basis. The only other person Kim had introduced her to was someone none of her family, friends, enemies, or bosses, knew about.

Mik sighed.

Truth be told, the whole truth, was that Shego would know the person. Well, if a name ever came up. Why? Because... It was Shego's...

"There you are!" bellowed a voice behind her.

Mik flinched, her foot missing the next branch. Next thing she knew, she was falling rapidly. A sudden jerk halted her fall. She looked up to find Shego holding her ankle in a vice-like grip.

"Watch your step, will you?!" growled Shego. The thief huffed and swung Mik up and onto the branch she was clinging to. After Mik was safely grounded, Shego pulled herself up to sit in front of the stunned redhead. "What is your deal?! First, you come out here and pretend to be Kimmie, and then you run off in the middle of your explanation! What the hell is going on?!"

"I can explain that," said a voice. Both of them jumped, heads snapping around to see a tall tan young woman standing on a branch nearby. Her suit looked worn, but they weren't as tattered as you'd think they'd be in this environment. Her snapping blue eyes regarded them coolly.

Mik's eyes instantly lit up.

"Shaundra!" exclaimed Mik, eagerly climbing to her feet and closing the distance between them.

Shego blanched.

"Sis!?"

Shaundra smirked, one hand reaching out to playfully muss Mik's hair.

"Long time no see, Sharee."


	2. Confusion

"Mik, what are you doing clear out here?" asked Shaundra. Shego watched in stunned silence as Shaundra rapped her knuckles lightly on Mik's head. "Does Kim know you're out here?"

"Umm…" Mik looked down at her feet guiltily. "No."

"And why didn't you tell her?" persisted Shaundra.

Mik looked up into Shaundra's blue eyes pleadingly. "You know how she's been the past couple of months! I've been trying everything to get her to come back to her senses, but she's so deep in her own world, she doesn't even see me! She just gives me this… look!" Mik waved a hand in the air with her face scrunched in agitation. "It's like she's… doubting me…" Mik's shoulders trembled slightly, and Shaundra and Shego both quickly picked up on it, though Mik was trying to suppress it.

With a sigh, Shaundra drew Mik into a tight hug. "Listen, she's just trying to figure things out. You're doing the right thing, giving her space." Shaundra pushed her away enough to look down into Mik's green eyes with a smirk. "So stop fretting about silly things. You're image is slipping up." She looked at Shego, and Mik followed her gaze. "As my sister so astutely figured out."

Shego frowned under the attention.

"Someone better damn well explain what's going on before I start lighting things on fire," growled Shego.

Shaundra's eyebrows shot up as Mik rolled her eyes. Pointing at Shego in shock, she turned to look at Mik. "How long has she been acting like this?"

Staring at Shego with a bored expression, Mik acted as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. "Probably since you left," Mik finally answered. "There hasn't been a time she hasn't been like this since Kimmie met her."

"That long?!" exclaimed Shaundra.

"Hello, still standing here," interrupted Shego, lighting up her hands. Unfazed by the show, Shaundra slung an arm around Mik's neck and pulled her close to her curvaceous body, continuing the conversation as if Shego never even spoke. Mik sighed and resigned herself to her fate.

"She was never like this before. She was always so sweet and kind. I really hope you don't hold it against her," said Shaundra.

Mik rolled her eyes. "And she was the top of her class and was always eagerly helping out anyone who needed it," finished Mik with a sigh. "You've told me many times."

"Then you understand why I find this so strange," insisted Shaundra.

"I find your whole family strange," Mik said flatly. Shaundra bopped her on the head lightly before turning to Shego again.

"Sharee, why are you so set on playing the villain?"

Disturbed by the way that Mik and Shaundra so easily interacted, Shego casually shrugged in attempt to ease the tension between her shoulder blades. "It's fun." She smirked and examined one of her burning hands.

Shaundra looked at Shego a moment longer before snorting and turning back to Mik. "She's as stubborn as you."

"I think you meant to say 'she really takes after me'," replied Mik.

Shaundra bopped Mik on the head again. "Oh hush you! I'm not that bad!"

"So you like to convince yourself," prodded Mik.

"Tsk! See if I bring you anymore Chinese food!" huffed Shaundra.

"I get take out all the time," retorted Mik, looking completely nonplused.

Shego watched the banter with growing irritation. Mik wasn't supposed to exist. It was too creepy to see someone looking exactly like Kim acting so relaxed around her. Equally so, her sister wasn't supposed to be anywhere in the same country, let alone the same state. Last she'd heard, she'd been in Italy. And the two of them acted like they'd known each other for years!

"That's enough!" bellowed Shego, finally having had enough. She glared at both of them. "That has nothing to do with explaining why either of you two are here!"

Snorting, Shaundra sat down on the branch gracefully. Mik simply stood next to her and continued examining the scenery in boredom.

"Apparently I've been hired to reacquaint you with the side of good." She glanced up at Mik. "And I have a feeling that's why they hauled her in as well."

"Fat chance." Shego crossed her arms and looked at them coldly.

Shaundra simply shrugged. "I didn't think you'd agree. You've been having too much 'fun' playing the villain. You might want to find a good place to hide though. They're going to try sending people after you to kill you."

Both women picked up on the tightening of Mik's jaw. Internally, Shego winced. Outwardly, she smirked boldly.

"Already asked you, did they Mikki?" she asked sarcastically sweet.

Mik's head slowly turned, and their eyes met with a frosty clash. "If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have walked away from that electrical tower," she said tonelessly.

Shego found herself unable to move, to break their frozen eye contact.

"Mik!" Shaundra said sharply, drawing both of them away from their staring contest. "That was uncalled for."

The both women stared at each other challengingly.

"Then tell your sister not to bait me. Cause unlike Kimmie, I won't hold back my answers." Without another word, Mik leapt off the branch and disappeared into the foliage below.

Shaundra frowned at the spot that Mik disappeared. "You really shouldn't bait her."

Shego snorted. "Oh? Why not, dear sister? Think I can't handle a Kimmie clone?"

Shaundra looked at her sharply. "Mik isn't just a clone. She's a lot more then that." She sighed and ran her fingers through her long brown hair. "It doesn't help that she's been hanging out with me so often. She's picked up some of my… habits."

Shego snorted. "Like sticking her nose into places it shouldn't be?"

Shaundra rolled her eyes. "More like enjoying giving a guy a bloody nose when he slaps her on the butt, or hotwiring a car to take it for a quick spin before abandoning it somewhere randomly."

Shego paused a breath. "She's done that?"

Shaundra huffed. "It's all I can do to keep her from doing it. She finds the justice system corrupt and unfair. Hence, it's very hard to get her to obey it."

A slow smile was creeping its way across Shego's face. Maybe this little Kimmie clone would be more fun then she thought. Shaundra caught the growing smile before Shego even realized she was making it.

"Don't you dare even think of it!" she growled, jumping to her feet. She marched over and grabbed Shego's collar and shook her. "If you harm one hair on her head, I'll throw you in prison myself!"

Startled by the sudden venom in her sister's voice, Shego almost nodded stupidly. "Aww… what's the matter? Are you attached to little clone Kimmie?"

Shaundra snarled, face barely inches away from Shego's.

"She's not a clone," she said, her voice steely and threatening. It actually sent a shiver of fear down Shego's spine.

Before Shego could recover enough to reply, Shaundra dropped her and leapt out of the tree in search of Mik.

Shego stood where she'd been released, numbly staring at nothing. Her sister had never yelled at her. Not once. Not even as children. And a Kimmie clone? She slowly sank to her knees. What the heck was going on with the world?

A real living and breathing clone…

Though she didn't realize it, her smile had crawled across her face again, leaving her grinning by herself on her tree branch.

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Shaundra found Mik stalking a rabbit in a small clearing. Shaundra watched in silence as Mik slowly circled downwind of the small critter and inched her way closer to it, pausing whenever he would lift his head and peer around him warily. About a hundred yards away, she stopped, standing perfectly still. Both women waited in silence as the rabbit slowly drifted closer and closer as he fed on the grass. When he was about an arm length away, Mik leapt forward and grabbed his ears, yanking his head back and drawing her blade smoothly across his bared neck.

Shaundra was impressed. Mik had grown a lot since she'd first stepped into the world with wide innocent eyes.

Shaundra shook her head with a soft snort as she continued watching the young redhead from the shadows.

There were things she was sure she should regret introducing the redhead to. However, she didn't want Mik to be as oblivious of the world as Kim was. It didn't help that Mik had a penchant for sneaking out and following her when she left, effectively getting them both into trouble. Nor did it help that Mik's personality differed from Kim's enough that instead of being a perfect example of heroic innocence, she was more of an antihero. She was always getting into trouble, and enjoying ever minute of it.

In other words, a handful and a half.

With her skills, it was nearly impossible to keep the young redhead from doing what she wished. A point proven when Shaundra had received a knock on her door late one night to find Mik standing outside in the rain, grinning devilishly as she tossed a "borrowed" pair of keys to Shaundra. And as she reprimanded the redhead for her deed, they ended up taking the "long" way back to the parking lot Mik had borrowed it from.

It was almost comical how she and Mik were so alike. Especially when you considered how similar Shego and Kim were before Shego decided to change sides.

Shaundra sighed. Young innocent Shego… She'd tried to leave her younger sibling out of her troubled life, but inevitably, Shego had wormed her way into it. And eventually…

No. She couldn't say what had caused the sudden drastic change in Shego. She only knew it happened after she'd left, when Shego was in her senior year in high school. And that was one thing she truly regretted, leaving Shego behind… She knew things were bad between Shego and their brothers. Hego was always at the top of their irritations. It was entirely possible he'd finally pushed Shego too far.

Mik was finished gutting her meal and was preparing a fire. Shaundra made her way out into the clearing and stood next to the crouching redhead. Mik didn't even look up, unsurprised by Shaundra's presence.

"What are you going to do about Shego?" asked Mik, eyes still intent upon her task of getting a flame started.

"What is there to do? I can only hope she doesn't dig her hole deeper."

Mik snorted. "She doesn't have much deeper she can go." Pausing in her work, Mik looked up at Shaundra. "There's only so much you can do to protect her. Instead of trying to change her, why don't you just try and get her to join up with you?"

"Shego isn't good at teamwork," Shaundra answered bluntly. "That, and her attitude now would inevitably cause several confrontations." Shaundra sat down next to Mik and watched as a small flame flickered in the pile of debris. "I don't think she even knows who I really am."

Mik sniffed. "I think she would have said something if she did."

Shaundra grinned. "You're right. She would have."

"It's really ironic, if you think about it," continued Mik.

Chuckling, Shaundra leaned forward slightly and put a few sticks onto the growing fire. "Yes it is. Shego would be furious."

"Of course."

"What are you going to do about Kim?" asked Shaundra.

Poking the fire absently, Mik gave herself some time to answer.

"Kim's been acting really strange recently. The more I try and help her out, the further she seems to pull in on herself."

"As her twin, what do you think is causing it?"

"She's burnt out," Mik answered softly.

"Burnt out?" Shifting until she could prop an arm on one of her knees, Shaundra watched Mik out of the corner of her eye. "Is the hero gig finally getting to be too much?"

"More like she's finally coming to terms with the fact that gray areas do exist. She's forcing herself to acknowledge them now. She has to, with me walking around. I'm a constant reminder."

"She doesn't regret having you around," Shaundra said gently but firmly.

"Can you be certain? I've caused her a lot of trouble. I know I'll cause her more too. Especially when they find out…"

Shaundra frowned, eyes locked on the growing fire. "No matter what may come, or what has happened, she will always be glad she chose to keep you."

"How do you know?" Mik persisted, shoulders tense.

Shaundra turned to meet Mik's hooded gaze. Smiling, she ruffled the redhead's cropped hair. "It's in the way she looks at you."

"The way she looks at me?" echoed Mik, her face scrunching up in confusion. Shaundra chuckled before answering.

"You make her smile. You ease her worries. When you're around, she's less of the world saving hero, and more of a normal teenage girl."

"… Are you saying I make her human?" Mik asked bluntly, sounding unimpressed. "Cause if she's acting like a normal teenager, that means she's not doing the impossible all the time." Mik turned back to the fire. "That also means she's not getting any closer to finding Sift."

Laughing, Shaundra grabbed Mik in a bear hug. "Listen you, that wasn't what I meant at all, and you know it. Now stop being a sour puss and share some of your catch."

"Get your own."

"Hey now! Whose your honorable and loving sensei? I deserve food."

"You deserve to catch your own. Last time I shared, you ate all of it yourself and I had to go out and get more." Mik half heartedly tried to pull away, but Shaundra tightened her hold.

"If you don't share, I'll tell Kim about your little mall escapade."

"Then I'll tell her about your needling and badgering to get me to go on that escapade. AND, about how you 'rented' a plane to get there."

Shaundra opened her mouth then let it snap closed.

"Damn. I hate it when you have more dirt then I do."

Mik smirked. "Blame yourself. It's your lifestyle."

Shaundra snorted. "And you're tromping in on it."

------Across the World------

A slightly subdued redhead was walking up a dirt path alone. After checking her surroundings carefully, she ducked behind some bushes and slipped into the lush overgrown vegetation to the right of the path. Kim grunted as she leapt off a small cliff and landed roughly on the ground before scanning the area again. With slow precision, she edged around the bottom of the cliff to a large cluster of boulders. She calmly looked around before placing her palm on the cliff-face six feet from the ground. A square of green light lit up under hand and a seven foot door hissed open before her.

Without hesitation, Kim calmly entered into the darkly lit hallow, listening as the door hissed closed behind her. As she walked, lights turned on before her and shut off after she passed. Her shoulders relaxed as she walked, a slow calm smile spreading across her face. By the time she reached the end of the hallway and another door, she was beaming brightly. She leaned forward and let a red light scan her eyes.

"Welcome, Kim," intoned a robotic voice. Kim breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she bounced into a now brilliantly lit room decorated with several plush couches and a large screen TV. Stepping out of her shoes, she stepped onto the thick blue and black patterned rug spread out across the floor.

"Mik!" Kim called loudly. Dropping her pale blue jacket over one of the couches, she continued walking as she held a brown box in her hand behind her back. "Mik! I'm home!"

Not perturbed the by the lack of an answer, Kim happily went to examine the other rooms. She started in the gym, a place she often found Mik practicing in. However, when the light flickered on, the mirror lined, padded floor gym was empty, weights and equipment untouched. Kim shrugged and headed to the game room, Mik's second most favorite place. She wagered that if she had a contest between Mik and Ron on who could play video games the longest and beat the games, Mik would wipe the floor with Ron.

The mental image made Kim chuckle as the door to the game room hissed open. Sadly, the only thing that greeted her was the neon blinking lights from the TV, stereo system, computer, and air hockey table. The hockey table had been a gift from Shaundra, and Mik and Kim were constantly kicking her butt when they played.

A slight frown was starting to tug on Kim's lips. The eerie silence was not something she was used to unless Mik was attempting another sneak attack. Just to be safe, Kim whirled around… but was greeted with the empty hall. With growing unease, she headed to the kitchen. It too, was empty, and oddly, all the dishes had been cleaned and put up and the trash taken out. Mik had a tendency to leave that stuff until things were overflowing and absolutely HAD to be done.

"Mik?" she called again, her tone tinged with worry. Her pace quickened as she made her way to the three bedrooms tucked next to the hideouts "sick-bay", as Mik had deemed it. She quickly punched in the codes to unlock Mik's door and stepped hurriedly into the room. Everything was as it was last she'd seen it. Books and papers lay scattered here and there, a small collection of DVD's spread out by a CD/DVD portable carry case. A few clothes chosen as "re-wearable for a second day" were draped over the computer chair. The computer hummed softly as the screen saver flashed an amusing little animation of chibi Kim chasing Shego or Shego chasing Kim with a small chibi of Shaundra popping on screen laughing at the antics and who would, in turn, get glomped by Mik.

Panic seized Kim's body, causing her to race to the door leading to the bathroom. It hissed open to reveal another empty room. Whirling around, Kim raced through every room, screaming Mik's name at the top of her lungs. She even checked the fridge for a note, and the garage for any missing vehicle. Sadly, nothing was out of place. Nothing explained Mik's absence.

Sure, Mik was known to break the rules and go exploring. But she always wore a wig and usually was with Shaundra. Mik's brown haired wig was still sitting on her desk and there was no note; Shaundra always left a note or a message letting Kim know what was going on.

"Shaundra!" Kim's eyes widened with sudden realization. She whipped out her cell phone and quickly dialed Shaundra's number. Kim tapped her foot impatiently as the phone rang.

*click*

"Hi,"

"Shaundra?!" Kim shouted excitedly.

"You've reached Shaundra, and I'm not available to take your call. Leave a message and I might get back to you… or not."

Kim visibly deflated, staring at her phone in defeat.

No one else knew Mik. No one else knew where to find her, who she was… Unless… Mik took missions for her sometimes… What if… Had she taken a mission for her? Had she gotten hurt? Where was she? She always left a note if she went on a mission for Kim! ALWAYS!

With a frustrated growl, Kim raced to the "control room", again named by Mik. She quickly typed up a list of records of all the recent calls Wade had made to her Kimmunicator. Her eyes narrowed on two made just two days ago. Opening the first file, she watched as the vid spanned out in a small window to the right of the list.

"Hey Kim!" Wade said cheerily. "You've got a new mission. Dementor says he's got some death ray he's going to hit Washington with."

"Death ray?" replied Mik's voice off screen.

Wade shrugged. "Yeah. I think he stole it from Drakken. Anyway, he's in New Mexico."

"That's it? Can't it wait?"

Wade shook his head. "He shot an eco plant in Cali yesterday, and melted the whole place. I've already booked your ride. It will be at your house in five."

"Alright Wade, thanks."

"No prob!" The screen went black.

Frowning, she opened the second file.

"What's the sitch?" asked Mik's voice. Wade grinned up at her.

"Just calling to say good job and I still haven't found anything about Shego's whereabouts."

"Thanks Wade."

"You bet! I'll keep tabs on things and beep you when I find out more."

Before more could be said, the screen went black.

Kim quickly played with a few more controls and tried to locate Mik's hidden chip imbedded in her bracelet. A 3-D globe of Earth began spinning around in the center of the screen, and along the bottom it said 'Searching…'. Shortly after running the scan, the globe stopped spinning and in big red letters it said 'Search Failed'. Kim's panic rose again as she quickly tried the search again. Still, nothing.

Thinking fast, Kim quickly typed in Shaundra's. She knew Shaundra would kill her for it later, seeing as she wasn't supposed to have the woman's tag ID, but she'd deal with that after she found Mik.

Search Failed.

"Dang it!" Kim slammed her hands down on the console. Tears sprang to her eyes as she hunched over. "Where is she… If her last mission was a success, where is she?!" Her body shook with restrained anger and panic.

Ever since Mik had been bor-… had come to li-… had arrived, Kim hadn't spent more then three days away from her. Honestly, if it were possible, Kim would have them attached at the hip. Unfortunately, without a reasonable explanation of Mik's existence, as well as the undeniable similarities, Kim had no way of dragging her everywhere.

Mik was great to have around. She was clever, witty, and always out to have some fun… Even though some of the things she did were… disagreeable and Kim turned a blind eye to, Mik's heart was always in the right place. She was a quick learner and was almost irritatingly good at martial arts. Kim had to grudgingly admit that Mik had kicked her can several times in the ring. Probably more times then Kim kicked hers. A faint smile crossed Kim's face before it disappeared.

A tremor ran through Kim. She'd gotten so used to seeing Mik's slouched form waiting for her, a lopsided grin on her face and happy glint in her eye. Kim also had happily adjusted to handing off missions here and there to Mik, hopefully to keep her busy and out of trouble and allowing herself a nice break. She'd gotten accustomed to sitting down to chat about her day, relive it, so Mik got a glimpse of "life on the outside". It was far too quiet in the large hideout now…

A whimper caught her attention. Kim's eyes widened and she quickly retrieved the forgotten box off the console. Kim opened the top and smiled wearily down at what lay inside.

"I don't think I can handle it, lil' guy. I know you can't." Kim brushed her hand over her eyes. When her hand dropped back to her side, her expression was determined, if not fierce. "I _will_ find her."


	3. Demands

Every TV and computer screen went blank, a momentary whining noise emitting from the speakers. The screens flashed again, and suddenly a very well known redhead was looking out at the world. Everyone watching blinked in confusion.

"I'm Kim Possible," said the redhead, her green eyes locked on the camera in front of her. She wasn't smiling. She wasn't frowning, and dark circles under her eyes made her face seem hollow. "I run around the world saving the day. I fix the broken things and stop all the bad things. I make lives peaceful. I make the world safe. I make sure that tomorrow comes, and no one can take it."

Everyone began exchanging confused looks.

This wasn't the Kim Possible they knew. Their Kim was abundantly cheerful. She was strong, confident, and always ready to lend a helping hand. This girl couldn't be her. She… it was like she was reading this from a script. It was like she was bearing the facts, nothing more. Her monotonous voice was almost nerve wracking because there was no emotion behind it, none at all.

"Agent Du," said one of the people watching.

"Yes Ma'am?" came the reply, the black haired man saluting the speaker crisply.

"Did we not put Kim into that ecological site on the unnamed island?" asked the voice.

"Yes Ma'am," replied Will.

"Odd," murmured two voices, across town from each other, at the same time.

Mr. and Mrs. Possible were watching the TV as well, their two boys lying on the floor in front of them. Mrs. Possible turned to her husband.

"I didn't think Kim was allowed to take anything into that place but a knife," she said. Mr. Possible frowned slightly, his eyes locked on the screen.

"She wasn't. I even tried to hand her a gadget or two, but she refused them."

"Then… how is she…?"

Everyone turned back to the screen as Kim started up again.

"I am Kim Possible," said the redhead flatly. "I've saved more lives then I can count, and I've returned stolen goods from thieves. I've stopped world domination, and I've stopped it's destruction. I've staved off natural disasters and assisted in fixing anything I couldn't get to in time. For all I've done, I've never asked for anything in return." Kim's face suddenly got dark, her eyes flashing with anger. Everyone leaned away from the screen. "For all I've done for you, I demand to know why you take the one thing away from me I've dared ask for."

That only earned blank confusion from viewers.

What was she talking about? What had they taken? Who had taken it? It made no sense.

"Where is she?" Kim asked lowly, her voice laced with barbs.

"Does she even realize how that sounds?" asked several people at once, one of them being a well known high school rival of Kim's. Bonnie snorted. "Possible's finally lost it."

"Some thing's wrong," commented another person, her mocha colored hand reaching out to turn up the volume. The entire class was watching, if not the school. If TV's or computers weren't already on, they were somehow magically flipped on just for this broadcast. Which didn't seem to be making any sense to anyone watching. Monique turned to Ron.

"Who's she talking about?"

Ron stared open mouthed. He had no idea who Kim meant. And, it only flustered him more because she wasn't supposed to be able to do what she was doing. Namely because she'd been locked in some giant Eco dome that didn't permit any kind of signal out unless it was through a specific terminal. Kim didn't have access to that terminal.

"What's going on KP?" he asked to the air. He scrunched up his face at his stupidity for asking no one. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Kimmunicator. He hit the button to contact Kim. A very familiar tune emitted from the TV.

Kim didn't budge.

"If that's you Ron," said Kim on the TV. "I'm not answering until I get answers."

He blinked. Even though she said that, the connection was established. He could see the blue wall behind her on the screen in his Kimmunicator.

"KP, what are you talking about? Who are you looking for?"

On the screen, everyone could hear the faint murmur of Ron talking, but they were unable to hear what he said.

Kim's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Wade," Kim growled, completely ignoring Ron. "Quit trying to hack into the system. You won't accomplish anything. You're all on my crap list until I get some answers."

Again, everyone blinked in confusion. This wasn't like their hero at all.

"Kim," Ron said a little louder. "What's going on?"

"I already told you," Kim answered. "If you don't tell me where she is, I'm going to start tearing things apart to find her." Kim's eyes flicked to the side for a brief second before returning to the screen. "You have until tomorrow. If you don't tell me by then, you're going to see how serious I am."

All the screens turned black, even Ron's Kimmunicator.

"What the heck was that?" demanded Bonnie, turning a hard look on Ron.

Ron slowly shook his head from side to side.

"I… don't know. There's no way she could have meant… Nah, not her! Has to be someone else!" Ron quickly got to his feet and headed for the door.

"Where are you going Stoppable?!" demanded a booming voice. Ron only glanced over his shoulder at the man.

"I have to find out what's going on. There's only a few people who might know." Without another word, Ron walked out the door.

-------In the Hideout---------

Scowling at a now blank screen, Kim drummed her fingers on the console. She wasn't pleased with having to make such a world-wide public display… but she'd felt she had no other choice.

---Flashback---

_"Computer," she called out to the room._

_"Awaiting command," answered a robotic voice._

_"Search records for what day and time Mik left."_

_After a short pause, the robotic voiced answered. "Friday 11th, 1745 hours."_

_Kim mentally referenced it with the day that Wade had contacted Mik for the last mission. Mik had made it to her parents house, gotten to New Mexico, finished the mission… and had never gotten home. So, between New Mexico and here, after the mission, she'd gone missing._

_Either someone had kidnapped Mik assuming it was Kim, or someone Mik knew had showed up. The only reason she was skeptical about a kidnapping was because no one acted out of character and there were no blazing headlines about Kim Possible being kidnapped. So that meant it had to be someone that Kim knew and Mik had met through missions. If that were the case, the only question was how to ask where "Kim Possible" was. And BEING Kim Possible made it hard to call and ask where she was at._

_But… the most frightening possibility… was that Mik had been found out. Someone knew about Mik and had… either captured or put an end to her._

_Kim growled in frustration. If GJ had happened to show up and asked Mik to go on another mission, it's all hush-hush, and the only way to find out would be to directly ask. But that meant revealing Mik as a clone. And there was no certainty that GJ was the one that had contacted Mik after the mission._

_Or, if Mik had been found out, the only way to get answers was to reveal that she existed as well._

_It was a lose-lose situation. But she had to take action fast. There was no telling what had happened. If the worst had happened and Mik had been found out, then she had to find out as soon as possible in hopes that Mik hadn't been killed yet._

---End of Flashback---

Kim sighed and leaned back in her chair to rub her forehead in hopes to distract herself from her pounding head. She hadn't slept at all since she'd gotten here. It took her two days to hack into the global satellites. It was mid morning the third day when she'd finally gotten everything aligned and prepared for a global vid-feed. Wade's help would have sped the process up by a day, but bringing the boy genius in was not quite a go because there was no telling if he had his hands in what happened to Mik.

It seemed very distrusting of her, but after stressing out about it for a night then working on getting things moving, she'd ended up building up her anger and directing it at, more then likely, the wrong people. And a part of her knew that. She just didn't want to admit it. Her entire focus was finding Mik. And possibly Shaundra. The brown haired woman hadn't responded to any of her calls. She'd even tried her "work" number, and had been told that Shaundra had been out for two weeks now.

It freaked her out to the point she wasn't thinking logically. At the moment, everyone was the enemy. She'd even forgotten to contact her parents. Which, if she'd stopped to think about it, she would have found it odd that they hadn't contacted her the last five days. If Mik had been missing the past five days, while Kim had been exploring Go City, it should stand to reason that the Possibles would have attempted to call to check up on their "daughter". Unless, of course, they knew where she was. Which would have saved Kim a lot of grief of trying this mass media thing and possibly kept this mess within the Possible household. Which could have maybe added some protection for Mik by giving her a believable background story if Kim's parents were accepting of the newest member of the household.

Again, unfortunately, Kim wasn't thinking properly. The idea had briefly fluttered across her mind, but she'd been so harried, she hadn't actually let it rise to the forefront. It'd been waved with half her other plans, to the back recesses of her mind, left for further inspection when she'd actually gotten some sleep, or at least some clues as to where Mik might be.

A blinking light on the Kimmunicator drew her attention. She glared at it a moment before she sighed heavily and hit the receive button. Dr. Director's face came into view, looking sullen, if not slightly confused.

"Ms. Possible, I expect you have a reasonable explanation as to how you got off that island and why you're suddenly making such strange demands world wide."

Kim's frown immediately disappeared. "Island? Where?"

A small frown worked it's way across the Directors face.

"The one we took you to three days ago. I know you accomplish the impossible all the time, but even you would have been hard pressed to get out, let alone off that island and to anything that is powerful enough to make such a world wide broadcast."

Kim's eyes instantly widen. Her tired mind buzzed with renewed vigor. "Where exactly was that island?" she questioned quickly.

"Possible, you're not making sense. Since it seems you got off the island, hopefully completing your mission, what other reasons do you have for going back?"

Kim's mind whirled. She had no idea what the mission was, let alone a good reason to go back. Hopefully a flimsy guess would get her an answer. "I uh… didn't quite finish the mission. I needed to… pick up a few things."

"You were instructed that you were not allowed to take anything other then that knife in," Dr. Director replied tonelessly.

"I understand," Kim answered quickly, tired mind trying to think up more excuses. "But, my mission is… a tad difficult. I… was hoping you wouldn't mind if I added a couple of my usual mission gear items."

The Director looked none too pleased, but she sighed. "Shego is a difficult person to handle. I take it she chose not to revert back to her heroic ways? Since you were asked to… dispose of her, if she didn't comply, it is acceptable that you will need more then a simple knife to accomplish this. Very well, I'll send the coordinates. Get what items you will need and head out immediately. Did you manage to locate the others?"

Kim's heart had seemed to freeze in her chest when the Director mentioned disposing of Shego. However, she kept an impassive look on her face as she shook her head. "No. Shego was my priority. After I… deal with her, I shall locate the others."

Nodding curtly, the Director cleared her throat. "Very well. I expect to hear from you as soon as you return."

Before Kim could say anything, the connection was cut. After a small pause, the Kimmunicator spat out a small slip of paper with the island's coordinates on it.

Kim sat frozen in place for several long tense moments.

She'd been ordered to kill Shego? KILL her?! What on earth was going on? Since when had GJ started giving her missions like that?! And… just because Shego was a thief, was it really necessary to kill her? Was that truly justice? If Mik knew, she'd be stark-raving mad. But… Mik had been the one to take the call. She'd been the one that'd been sent out. That meant Mik knew… and still went. Was Mik… really willing to kill Shego?

"None of it makes sense!" roared Kim, pounding her fist on the armrest of the chair. She growled irritably and ran her fingers through her knotted hair. Blinking her dry bloodshot eyes, she stared down at the Kimmunicator, tempted to make a call to Wade to get a ride. But that meant she'd have to ask for a return ride. Plus, she'd have to explain Mik on the return trip. And… however many visitors were coming with her.

The Kimmunicator blinked again. Again, it was Ron. She rolled her eyes. The boy never gave up. But, seeing as she has her answers, she could at least fill the boy in on her "return" trip to the island and get him to explain things to her parents, which she assumed, knew of the first trip.

That didn't sit well with her. Did they all know that she'd been asked to kill someone? Were they not bothered by it in the least? Did her parents really let her go on this darn thing KNOWING what was expected of her if she failed to convince Shego to change sides again?

It almost frightened her. What did they take her as? A murderer?

Mik couldn't have possibly have done this to spare her the emotional and mental stress of such an act, could she? Was that why Mik had chosen to go? Is that why she hadn't left a note?

Rising on trembling legs, Kim stared wide eyed into space. She was terrified Mik was actually thinking of killing Shego… killing Shego, and sparing Kim the trauma. Could Mik really do it? Was Mik truly different enough, separate enough from Kim, that she _could_ commit such a horrendous thing?

Kim was horrified that such doubts were actually plaguing her tired and distraught mind. She'd never once doubted Mik. NEVER.

Shaking her head roughly, Kim squared her shoulders. She wouldn't start doubting Mik now. She would go and find her double, and she would find out exactly what was running through her troublesome little head. She glanced down and spotted a pair of large golden eyes staring up at her from a box. A small smile played with the corners of her mouth.

"I think it's high time we tried out that new jet." She slung a mission's bag over her shoulder and picked up the box. Making her way to the garage/hangar, Kim pressed the call button on her Kimmunicator. She forced a smile as soon as she saw Ron's face pop up.

"Hey Ron."

"Kim!" exclaimed the blond. He looked relieved she'd finally answered. "What's going on?" A slightly panicked look crossed his face.

"There've been a few kinks in my mission. I needed to… restock on some items before going back."

A mixture of relief and confusion washed across his face. "Ah, um… that's good to hear. Um… what was with that message? Who are you looking for?"

A spontaneous urge to tell him almost had the words tumbling from her lips. She just barely caught herself in time to smile grimly at him.

"A… friend of mine is missing. I thought… maybe I'd find her if I announced it globally."

Ron stared at her in confusion. "Who?"

"I'll tell you later," she said quickly. "I have to get ready to go. I have to get back to the mission."

Nodding slowly, he frowned. "Well, okay. Uh… I'll be here to talk when you get back."

"Spankin'!" she said a little too enthusiastically. Luckily, the act was bought, and Ron grinned at her before the connection was cut. Kim sighed, wishing she had a free hand to rub her forehead. "Now to figure out if I have to let the cat out of the bag, or if I can somehow manage to stuff a different cat into it."

Shaking her head, she left that bombshell to be dealt with upon her return. For now, she just had to make it to the stupid island and locate her other half.

She yawned. "Thank science for autopilot," she muttered to herself as the garage/hangar door hissed open.

* * *

**A/N: **Oooo! Kimmie's headed to the island! Who will she run into first?! How will Shego react when she runs into the REAL Kimmie? For that matter, how will Mik and Shaundra act running into Kimmie? And, are Mik and Shaundra in for one heck of a scolding?

Bwahahahaha! You'll have to wait and see :3


	4. Surprise!

"Will you stop following me?!" roared Mik. Shaundra glanced back at Shego, who'd been tailing them the past couple of days.

"Isn't it your mission to kill me? Why should you be upset I'm following you?" Shego was smirking, arms crossed over her ample bosom.

Mik rubbed her eyes tiredly, a headache stinging behind her right eye. "I think the safety of the third party missing in this cursed place is more important."

"Who is it?" asked Shaundra, ignoring Shego's indignant huff.

"I don't know. They didn't say." Mik scanned the thick foliage around them. She instantly tensed and did a double take.

Shaundra and Shego both turned to follow her gaze.

"Is that a…" started Shaundra.

"Dragon?" finished Mik.

Sitting on its haunches a hundred yards away on a stone, a large scaled salamander was spreading two large wings on it's back. The size of the salamander from nose to tip of tail was probably three feet. It's small flat head was gazing up into the sun, large eyes blinking owlishly as it basked in the few rays that managed to penetrate the thick vegetation and warm the rock the creature was sitting on.

A sudden squeal drew everyone's attention. Shaundra and Shego gawked at Mik, who was bouncing up and down in wild excitement with her hands waving up and down erratically.

"OMG OMG OMG! It's a damn dragon! Do you see it?! Do you see it?! OMG!"

The sisters exchanged flabbergasted looks as Mik started edging her way forward to get a closer look.

When Shego and Shaundra realized what she was doing, both of them quickly tried to grab her. Sadly, she was already out of their reach and moving swiftly towards the unsuspecting creature. Just as she got about fifty yards away, the salamander noticed her. It let out an odd squawk and flapped it's wings harshly. Awed, Mik merely stood there and stared as the creature lunged off the rock and took off gliding through the trees with expert grace.

"Dang it Mik! What if that thing attacked you?!" bellowed Shaundra, pushing her way closer to the still gaping redhead.

Whirling instantly, Mik dove towards Shaundra and wrapped her arms around the woman's neck. "WOOOOOOOOOOW!" she squealed, bouncing up and down eagerly. "Did you see?! Did you see?! Wasn't that freakin' awesome! OMG! That was soooo COOL!" She was still sputtering on unintelligibly as Shaundra gazed down on her in muted shock.

Loud laughter joined with Mik's ecstatic ramblings as Shaundra threw back her head and laughed at Mik's antics.

Shego just scowled irritably at the two. "You've both lost your damned minds."

As Shaundra's laughter died out and Mik's yammering ebbed away, Shaundra grinned down at the beaming redhead and ruffled her hair. "That was pretty cool."

Mik's head bobbed up and down eagerly. "Yeah! I mean, I know they told me there were mutated animals on this island, but I never expected anything like that!"

"Me either," Shaundra admitted, glancing around the small clearing they stood in. "I'm surprised I haven't come across more of them in the nearly three weeks that I've been here."

Shego huffed. "I've been here two months. I haven't seen anything like that before. Just overgrown snakes and such."

Her sister and young redhead turned to eye her in slight surprise.

"Two months?" questioned Shaundra. "They kept you locked up here that long?!"

Shego scowled and shrugged. "They tricked me. Once I got here, I couldn't figure out how to get off and survive. I had better luck surviving the beasties."

Shaundra snickered and Mik had a half grin on her face. "Beasties?" questioned the older sibling. Shego blushed.

"Sh-shut up!"

"I think she's been spending too much time with Drakken," Mik said with a smirk.

"Don't even!" threatened Shego, pointing warningly at Mik.

Mik only grinned at her. Shaundra started laughing again. Shego growled at them and prepared to walk off.

"Wait," Mik called. "If there are strange creatures here, it would be best if we stuck together."

"I can handle it." Shego flared her hands in emphasis.

Mik rolled her eyes. "I'm quite sure you could. Still, I know how to get off this island. If you really want to stay here, fine. Go stalk off somewhere and make sure we can't find you."

"I'm not joining the side of good," Shego said darkly, eyes flashing.

Mik turned away and started making her way across the clearing. "I never said you were."

Shego absently followed, Shaundra still trying to catch her breath at the back of the small train.

"Then why would you let me leave the island?"

"Because if I fail to kill you, someone else will be sent here to do it instead. Though this place is a jungle, you're still caged. I don't agree with odds like that."

Shego paused a moment, staring at the redhead in wariness. "Is that supposed to be noble or something?" she finally shot back.

Mik glanced over her shoulder at the thief. "Noble?" She snorts. "I'm not noble. I'm just a clone trying to fake being human."

The bitterness in Mik's voice was loud in the following silence. Shaundra shot Shego a quick glare before slipping past the black haired woman and reaching for Mik.

THUNK!

Mik's head snapped to the side as a flying object bounced off of it and flew into the tall grass.

Complete quiet hovered over the clearing as Shego and Shaundra gaped at the redhead. Mik slowly reached up and felt the growing lump on her stinging head. With a lidded gaze, she turned to the direction the projectile had come from.

She blinked.

"Oh shi-"

THUNK!

A second object bounced off Mik's head, causing her head to snap back and make her stumble.

"Don't you dare curse in front of me!" bellowed a voice.

"Oh shit!" Shaundra flinched and started racing for the thick underbrush to their right.

Shego blinked at her sister. Something whizzed by her head and hit Shaundra square in the back, knocking the brunette off her feet with a grunt. Shego blinked at a groaning Shaundra before turning to face the newcomer.

Kim stood on a tall root, arms crossed and glaring at them fiercely.

Mik was rubbing her forehead and straightening back up to look at her double. "Jeeze Kimmie, did you have to throw things?"

Without answering, Kim leapt off the root and strode purposefully towards Mik. Mik looked wary, but didn't move away when Kim stopped in front of her. Kim's lips were a thin line as she stared evenly at Mik. Mik merely looked back, looking a shy bit uncertain.

"I will not hear you belittle yourself," Kim said lowly. "Clone or not, you are human, and you are your own person." Kim gently cupped Mik's face in her hand. "Got that?"

Mik's eyes misted over a bit, and she looked away, mutely nodding once.

Kim's face broke into a warm smile. Flinging her arms around Mik, she pulled her clone close. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Mik's arms rose slowly to wrap around Kim. She buried her face into Kim's shoulder. "You were worried?" she whispered hoarsely.

"I came home to find an empty house," replied Kim just as quietly. "Of course I was worried."

Mik's shoulders shook, but she withheld any tears. "I'm sorry."

Kim rubbed her back in soothing circles, silently thanking any deity listening for keeping Mik safe.

"Why didn't you tell me what was going on?" questioned Kim, refusing to release her hold.

"I didn't find out about it until after my other mission. They brought me here before I had a chance to go home or send you a message."

"Why is Shaundra involved? She's been gone longer then you."

"They pulled her in a few weeks ago to talk Shego down. When it didn't work, they requested the help of Team Possible."

Kim pulled away enough to look Mik in the eye. "Would you really have killed her?"

Mik's lips firmed into a tightlipped scowl, eyes fierce. "Never."

Kim smiled, inwardly relieved. "Good."

Eyes drifting over to the hovering siblings, Kim locked gazes with Shaundra. "Do you have to be such a trouble maker?"

Shaundra scoffed and casually made her way over to the two redheads. "Hey, this wasn't my doing. Granted, I'd rather not see Shego in an early grave, but I had no hand in what GJ did."

Kim's eyes flicked over to Shego before returning to Shaundra's. "Did you tell her?"

Shego's ears perked up, gaze suddenly intent instead of bored.

Shaundra let her eyes roll over to her younger sibling. "No."

"Tell me what?!" demanded Shego. "How many secrets are you keeping from me?! I mean, you weren't even supposed to be stateside!"

"They're going to kill her if you don't so something," Kim said evenly.

"They can try!" scoffed Shego.

Everyone ignored her.

"I know," replied Shaundra. She sighed. "It would help if she wasn't so damned stubborn."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Look who's talking."

Shaundra shot her a mock hurt glare, but let her gaze slide to her sister once again. "What are you going to do about Mik? Getting back without anyone seeing us will… be pretty much impossible."

Kim's eyes filled with worry as tension tightened her jaw. Mik mutely touched her wrist, and Kim's eyes snapped to her clone's. Mik smiled trustingly, but there was fear in her eyes.

Kim shook herself and smiled widely. "Hey, I did plan ahead ya' know." She grinned impishly as she pulled out a small spray can and a box. "Box of dye for your beautiful red locks, and…" Kim's eyes suddenly widened in alarm. "What happened to your beautiful hair?!" she screeched.

Mik blinked. Absently, a hand reached up to finger her shorn red hair. "Err… I cut it?"

"But why?!" wailed Kim, reaching out to run her fingers through the short hair as well. "It was so beautiful!"

Inwardly, Mik was surprised Kim wasn't upset because it meant Mik couldn't pretend to be Kim any more.

"Uh… it was in the way?" Mik said hesitantly.

Mik started as Kim began pouting.

"But it was so pretty," mumbled the teen hero.

"I… I'm sorry?" queried Mik, trying to look rebuked and innocent.

Kim sighed and continued playing with the short red hair. "Well, at least it's cute."

Relieved, Mik grinned impishly, shuffling her feet. "So what's the can o' spray for?"

Shego rolled her eyes at the entire scene, while Shaundra watched with a small smile.

Kim gained back her spark of energy and winked at Mik. "A can of spray that will allow you to change the color of your eyes."

All heads whipped around to gawk at her.

"Seriously?!" blurted Mik. A creeping smile was blooming across her face. "You mean I can… look normal?!"

Kim tried to frown at her, but it was definitely a pout. "You already look normal."

Mik blushed at her slip-up and sheepishly fingered the hem of Kim's sleeve. "I-I meant that I could go outside now. I could… ya' know… go places with you and… not have to worry about being seen."

Kim beamed at her and gave her a quick hug. "I know."

Flustered, Mik nodded towards the small can. "Um, where did you get it?"

"Actually, I found it at one of Drakken's lairs. I guess it was an experiment he didn't find useful for taking over the world."

"Drakken's?!" yelped Mik. She leapt away from the can and crossed her fingers. "No way! Don't come near me with that thing! It'll make me blind or something!"

Shego belted out laughter as Shaundra looked back and forth between the three of them in confusion.

"What's wrong?" asked Shaundra. "Why won't you use it Mik?"

"We're talking about Dr. D here!" cackled Shego. "That idiot can't make a working invention if it slapped him in the face!"

Mik nodded emphatically. "Everything goes boom! Nothing ever works like it's supposed to!"

Shaundra stared at the seemingly harmless can of spray. "It can't be that bad, can it? What choice do we have?"

Mik look horrified. "No way! You're crazy! I'm not doing it!"

Kim glanced at Shaundra. "A little help?"

Before Mik could protest or escape, Kim and Shaundra jumped her. Shego was howling with laughter as Mik's voice wailed loudly in alarm.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

**A/N:** Ta-da! lol chapter four. Did you find it amusing? Hope so ^^ lol next chapter, what will happen to poor Mik after being subjected to one of Drakken's inventions? And who is the last person wandering around on the island? Plus, how on earth are they all going to get off the island and explain away the extra person being carted along with them?


	5. Campfire tales

Four figures sat around a small campfire. Three of them were staring at the fourth, who blinked owlishly at the fire and ignored them.

Finally, Kim cleared her throat and dared to speak up. "Sooo…. How is it?"

Mik, shaggy hair now pale blond, squinted at her with brilliant stormy blue eyes. "Everything is tinted a faint blue… I feel freakin' colorblind."

Kim giggled and leaned forward to move some hair away from Mik's eyes so she could see the shadowed blue gems. "I think they look lovely. I haven't seen blue eyes like that before. They're pretty."

Mik blushed faintly but didn't move away. "And you wouldn't, because they're fake. When does it wear off anyway?"

Kim stuck her tongue out at Mik and leaned back, letting the blond hair fall back into place. "There's another spray that deactivates it. I actually have a whole crate full of them. There's even some for green eyes, brown eyes, and leave it to Drakken, gold and red eyes."

Mik's eyes lit up in interest. "Red eyes?"

Kim frowned. "No. You no touchy the funny colored eyes!"

Mik sighed and Shaundra laughed.

Mik's gaze darted to Kim's bag, which began moving. "Uh… Kim… Your bag…"

Kim turned and suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh! I totally forgot!" Without preamble, she snatched up her bag and opened it up and crooned into it. "Aww, I'm so sorry. I got so caught up in the excitement I forgot about you."

The other three present just stared at her like she'd gone mad.

"What on earth are you talking to?" Shaundra spoke up first.

"Mik's birthday gift!"

Dead silence.

Kim frowned. "I'm serious. Two days ago was the anniversary of the day she… err… was more or less born."

Mik's throat tightened, but she remained unfazed on the surface. "We've never celebrated it before. It's been a couple years…"

Kim blushed sheepishly. "Yeah, I know. I was so caught up in the fact you existed that I kind of forgot that… well… you existed."

"Huh?" Mik lifted an eyebrow.

Waving a hand quickly in the air, Kim tried to clarify. "I mean, I was so busy trying to figure out what to do with you, I wasn't thinking about much else. I mean, you were just _there _one day, and I had to find a place for you to stay, and clothes and food, and…" Kim sighed. "Everything was a little overwhelming. Even when Shaundra stepped in, I still felt the effects. I honestly forgot about _my_ birthday both of those years. I got shocked twice when my family threw me surprise birthday bashes. And I was thrown so completely off guard, I forgot that you had one to celebrate too."

"Why not just celebrate it with yours?" asked Shego, looking bored as she poked the fire with a stick. "She's you're clone, after all."

Shaundra reached out and smacked her upside the head without even looking away from Kim. "She does have a point."

"Oh, that's easy. She's not really my twin. She was born on a different day. Hence, she gets her own special birthday!" Kim beamed at Mik, eyes filled with a surprising amount of affection and pride.

"Oh," said Mik, feeling deeply touched. "So, um… what'd you get me?"

Kim thrust her bag out towards Mik. Two golden eyes peered out from inside.

Mik's eyes widened comically as she leaned away. "What the heck did you get me?"

Kim laughed. "Say hello to your new friend!" She reached inside and pulled something out.

Launching herself into the air and away from Kim, Shego lit up her hands with a growl. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Kim huffed and pouted cutely at Shego before turning back to Mik. "It's an Aye Aye Lemur. They're an endangered species off of Madagascar." The scraggly black and white little critter stared up at Mik with huge wide golden eyes.

"Cute," Shaundra said calmly.

"CUTE?!" roared Shego. "The thing looks like a sickly rat with creepy long fingers!"

"This one was rather sickly and small," explained Kim. "It's rare to even get babies. I helped save the Center they keep them at, and as a thank you, they insisted on giving me one of their pets. Kind of surprised me, when they're endangered and all, but they said they're doing okay building up the population so it would be okay if I took one."

Mik just stared at it in silence. She hadn't moved.

"So why this one?" questioned Shaundra, reaching out to gently run a finger over the creature's small head.

"Honestly, I really liked the ring tailed ones better, but this one was different and Mik tends to like things that are unique." She gently pushed the small thing into Mik's hands. "What-cha going to name her?"

"Boo." Mik said calmly. Eyes alight, she lifted the small black lemur up to eyelevel and looked into it's wide golden eyes.

"Were we supposed to scream?" Shego asked sarcastically.

"Her name's Boo," Mik answered without looking away.

"Aww, how cute!" Kim said.

"Stupidest name ever," remarked Shego.

"Boo?" questioned Shaundra.

"Yep, Boo." Face slowly splitting into a warm smile, Mik gazed adoringly at the little critter. "Definitely my little Boo." She turned to Kim with the same open warm smile. "Thank you. I love it."

Kim glowed, grin wide enough it nearly reached her ears. "I'm glad."

"Guess I owe you a gift when we get back," Shaundra commented.

Mik blinked. "You don't need to-"

"I owe you a gift," insisted Shaundra, voice level and brooking no argument.

Mik sighed, but a smile teased the corner of her mouth. "Thanks."

"What does the Demon eat?" asked Shego. She was scowling at Boo.

"Fruits, nuts, insects, stuff." Kim shrugged. "They gave me a book. It's at the bottom of my bag."

Mik dug it out and began reading, letting Boo cling to her shoulder. Boo peered over her shoulder and stared at the book, as if reading it along with her. Kim and Shaundra shared a smile at the scene before allowing Mik some time with her new pet.

"So, how'd you find us?" Shaundra asked. She propped an elbow up on her knee and added another log to the fire.

Kim blushed. "I kind of accidentally made a national broadcast demanding to know where she was."

"YOU WHAT?!" bellowed Shaundra, making everyone flinch. "You _know _that if they'd discovered Mik they'd take her and possibly kill her!"

Kim winced but squared her shoulders to defend herself. "I didn't know if they already had her or not! They scooped her up right after her last mission! Plus, _you_ were missing too! I had no idea where to find either of you! Yes, I probably reacted poorly and didn't properly examine my plan thoroughly, but I didn't think I had a choice! I wasn't sure how much time I had! If they _did _have Mik, they would more then likely get rid of her as quickly as possible! And if not, someone could have taken and held her hostage, thinking it was me! A million things could have happened, and I didn't think I had any other option but to do what I did!"

Shaundra still looked stern, arms crossed over her chest, but her eyes were reflecting understanding. "What did you tell them then?"

"Dr. Director contacted me. I told her I had come back to get some mission items because I couldn't handle my mission properly without them. That's when I found out about Shego." She nodded in the green skinned woman's direction. "Because it was Shego, the director seemed to understand there would be 'issues' and gave me the all clear to get what I needed. She re-sent me the coordinates and I used our jet to get here."

Shaundra nodded slowly. "Good, then it's not too messed up. Still, they might think you need a ride back and have someone waiting for you when you get out. They might even have it set up so they're immediately notified if you leave so they can send everyone here to meet you."

"I know. That's why I brought the dye and the spray. I figured our only chances were to hide her now."

Shego had only been half paying attention to the conversation. Her attention was on Mik, who was diverting her attention between the book and her new pet. The younger girl's fascination with the creature was beyond Shego. She didn't understand how _anyone _could like something that ugly. It didn't help that the darkness made it look even creepier.

"You have weird taste," she finally said. She eyed the creature warily. "'Cause that thing is ugly."

"No it's not!" retorted Mik. They're conversation went unheard by the other two, seeing as Shaundra was informing Kim of what had happened when they'd pulled her aside to send her in. "She's adorable!"

"She's a freak of nature," Shego bluntly replied.

"And she's all the more special for it!" insisted Mik, cuddling Boo close to her.

Shego did a double take. "You're not even _denying_ that she's a freak of nature?"

Mik frowned, but Shego thought it looked suspiciously close to a pout. "She's special," repeated the short haired girl, petting Boo lightly.

Shego rolled her eyes. "You're seriously strange."

Mik simply shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "So says the woman who can sling plasma and has green skin."

Eyes narrowed, Shego flexed her hands. "Excuse me?"

Mik glanced at the black haired woman and noticed the true anger in her eyes. Mik sighed. "Hey, I didn't say your green skin and crazy plasma skills were bad. They're exotic and unique. Just because they're different doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Isn't that right Boo?" Mik nuzzled the little lemur affectionately.

Shego blinked in stunned shock. Did… Did Mik _really_ just call her exotic?

She'd been called many things in her lifetime. Exotic hadn't been one of them.

"Shego," called Shaundra, snapping the green tinted woman out of her daze.

"What?" asked Shego, trying to shake herself out of her stare.

"What are you going to do when you get off this island?"

"Go back to Drakken," Shego answered with a clear 'no duh', expression on her face.

Shaundra sighed. "That's a really bad idea. You know they're only going to send more people after you."

Shego glared at her. "I'm _not_ turning into a goody-two-shoes! Besides, being a thief is fun."

Shaundra rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying you _have _to become a hero. I'm just saying you need to quit being a villain. Drakken is a lost cause. He's never going to succeed in anything but dragging you down with him. I also heard that GJ has been working on a plasma nulling device. They won't hesitate to use it if you keep this up."

"I can handle it!" growled Shego.

"No you can't," answered Mik, surprising all of them.

"What?" Shego asked lowly, threateningly.

"You can't handle it," Mik stated solemnly. "I've seen it. I've watched them use it. I saw it when I went exploring GJ while Director was visiting with a client. It's strong enough to completely knock out your plasma ability for thirty minutes. In that thirty minutes, they could have you tagged and bagged. Plus, they have a set of plasma restraining cuffs that they were testing too. They're made of iron, so without the ability to melt them, there's no way you'd break them."

"They wouldn't be able to catch me!" huffed Shego, lifting her chin defiantly.

"They have a net they infused with a plasma dampener. They could easily surprise you and cast the net over you while you were distracted. They were training an entire team specifically to do just that." Silence reigned over the small campfire as they all stared and Mik.

"Look," continued Mik. "From what I saw, if you keep going, they're going to get you. Yes," Mik continued before Shego could interrupt. "You are skilled. I wont argue that. Yes, you've gotten out of a heck of a lot of things that not many people can scoff at. But they're targeting specifically you. They plan to get you, no matter the means. All the financial backers of GJ are pushing Dr. Director to buckle down and seriously start taking care of these super villains. If not, she loses her job, as well as GJ. It will be disbanded and dismantled so an entirely new establishment can be set up, one that isn't so secret."

Shaundra frowned. "How'd you find out about that?"

"I asked Wade and Ramone to investigate some leads for me."

Shaundra blinked. "You got _Ramone_ to do that?! How?! That bastard doesn't even listen to _me_!"

Mik grinned. "He said he'd help me just to piss you off. That, and once he saw what I wanted him to investigate, he got too curious to say no."

"Shaundra leaned forward and lightly tugged on Mik's ear before returning to her previous position. "What did you have him investigate?"

"The UN."

"What?" asked Kim, her voice hallow with shock.

"The UN," repeated Mik. "Didn't it ever occur to you that other countries wouldn't want these Super Villains running amok in their homeland? The UN has a group of high ranked officials that have created another hidden organization called Fail Safe. They've made it their job to make all assurances that all Super Villains would remain in the U.S. and would be dealt with there. Yes, Super Villains have hideouts all over the world, but their main goal has always been dealing with the U.S. first. They've put a lot of money into that making sure it would remain that way. However, lately, with Drakken getting more bold, Shego proving her talents were more formidable then they could retaliate against, that Monkey Fist has been freely storming the world for his own agenda, SSS having enough funds to do whatever they want despite consequences, and Gemini growing in power, they've decided they have to up the ante."

"Meaning a serious upgrade in levels of force," answered Kim.

"Exactly," confirmed Mik. "Hence, the death warrant has been put out for Shego. GJ has been trying to avoid having to up the levels of force, but if villains keep refusing to change their ways, GJ is going be pushed into taking things more seriously. Already six teams have been sent after Gemini. If his organization wasn't so big, he'd already have been caught. They even closed all of his known bank accounts, destroyed all his known lairs and houses, and even began sending moles into all his trusted circles. He can't hide publicly anymore. He's been driven underground."

Kim frowned and looked to Shaundra. "What does that mean for you?"

"You know what this means." The brown haired woman sighed and ran a hand through her thick locks. "It means my job becomes all the much harder. The government is involved, and they've created yet _another_ secret organization. If this keeps up, they're going to sign a treaty that lets all of them have Martial Law over everything to capture all non-law-abiding citizens."

Shego frowned. "What exactly do you do?"

Blue eyes glowing in the light of the fire, Shaundra stared in resignation into the flickering flames. "I am president and founder of the organization called F.U.E.D."

Shego's jaw hit the ground. "No fuckin' way!"

Shaundra sent a half hearted glare at her. "Language, Sharee."

"No fuckin' way!" repeated Shego, completely ignoring the look she received. "_You_?! Impossible! FUED is like, like… untouchable!"

The comment managed to pull a half smirk from Shaundra. "Untouchable, huh?" She chuckled. "I guess in a way…"

"I'm serious!" continued Shego. "That organization is the talk of every villain out there! FUED, aka, Fighting Unjustly Employed Diplomacy, is repeatedly fighting with the government about any unjust laws or rules that they newly decree! If it violates anything that FUED deems a human right, they openly oppose the law by any means necessary! Even if it means freeing the people who broke the new law! And it isn't just stateside! It's WORLD wide!"

"And they assist in deterring or taking down any criminals or villains that threaten that very same thing," finished Kim.

Shego whirled on her. "You _knew_?!" She thrust an accusing finger at her sister.

Kim shrugged. "I found out a long time ago. Your sister is actually the one that sent me on my second mission. After she heard about the security laser issue, she decided to test my skills for future employment. That, and FUED wasn't quite as broadly filled out. She needed the extra help. She's been sending me here and there on missions she doesn't have the bodies for, for years."

Shego spun to face her sister again. "WHAT?!"

Shaundra shrugged. "She's been an asset in building FUED's reputation. It also helped build her own. Her skills weren't to be ignored, as you well know." Shaundra smirked.

Scowling further, Shego glared at them. "How come I was never informed?"

"Because you're stubborn, bullheaded, selfish, a lone wolf, a terrible listener, sarcastic, rude…" the short haired girl began ticking off.

Shego launched herself over the fire and hauled Mik up into the air with a snarl. "_Excuse _me?"

Mik calmly patted the taller girl on the head while Boo clung to her back and peeked over her shoulder. "It's okay, Firecracker. Everybody knows your explosiveness is unpredictable. But that's alright, we'll take you as you are."

"WHAT?!" Shego's faced turned an interesting shade of green.

"What she's saying is, would you like to join my company? You wouldn't be a hero, but you wouldn't be a villain either." Shaundra tapped a burning log with a stick.

The green shade only got darker. "That's not what I'm asking about!" she roared.

"Then what were you asking about, _Firecracker_?" asked a smirking Kim.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FIRECRACKER?!"

* * *

**A/N: **Hahaha, how'd you like that chapter? Can you picture Mik's new image? Meh, I might have to attempt drawing it sometime... Did ya' ever notice there aren't many blue eyed characters in the series? I mean, a blue man, yes, but no blue eyes... I thought blue deserved a chance :P As for the pet Aye Aye lemur, you should really go check out a picture of it on the Internet to get an idea what it looks like. They're as bizarre as a naked mole rat. I thought bizarre animals should remain steady as pets. Does make things more interesting, yes? Anyway, toodles until next chappy.


	6. Omake!

-(Omake of sorts)-

Mik was scowling, Kim pouting, and Shego was doing an interesting mix of scowling and smirking. Shaundra just sighed and rolled her eyes as she lead the small group through the thick vegetation.

Last night had exploded into a chaotic fight. Not that she'd expect any less from the highly athletic and skilled trio. All you needed was one smart-alecky remark to set any of them off. With three mouths, it quickly ended up being an all out brawl.

She huffed at her ripped sleeve and now holey pants. To be honest, she wasn't really known for her restraint either. Once they'd gotten started, and after only half heartedly trying to get them to quit, she'd leapt into the fray with equal ferocity.

Hence, all of them were rather moody and grumpy the next morning.

Glancing at Shego, Shaundra pondered why her younger sister was still following them. Usually, once Sharee got fed up with things, she stormed off. It was not unheard of for her to disappear for days on end before reappearing at her leisure. Not to mention how often she'd adamantly groused how irritating and useless the two teen heroes were. Shaudnra snorted. She would never quite understand her baby sister.

"She's a masochist," Mik said out of the blue. All eyes snapped to her while hers remained fixed on Shaundra.

Apparently, she'd been caught staring. Shaundra chuckled. "Really? You think so?"

Mik shrugged. "She keeps coming back for more. What would _you_ call that type of behavior?"

Shaundra tapped her chin as if she was actually thinking about her answer.

"What's a masochist?" asked Kim.

Now all eyes were on the redhead, who shifted uncomfortably.

"You don't know?" asked Mik, looking more shocked then the others.

Shego sneered and leaned uncomfortably close to the redhead. "I think _you_, of _all_ people, would know, Princess."

Kim frowned, clearly frustrated. "What? I'm supposed to know _everything_?"

"Well… you _are_ pretty innocent," admitted Mik.

This earned an indignant huff and smack on the arm from Kim. "What's that supposed to mean? I raised you!"

Mik shifted uneasily. Suddenly, she wasn't so keen on the redhead finding out what the word meant. Turning to Shaundra with pleading eyes, she instead, was greeted with the sight of a very evil grin from Shego.

"Hey Pumpkin, you _really_ want to know what masochist means?" asked the green skinned woman. Her voice was sickeningly sweet, and even Shaundra winced. "It means-"

"NO!" roared Mik, tossing Boo into Shaundra's startled arms.

Launching herself at the black haired thief, the Mik tackled the young woman to the ground.

Shego began laughing uproariously. She kicked Mik over her head and rolled to her feet. Bouncing off a tree quickly, Mik attacked again. Still laughing, Shego pushed her aside. She lit up her hands, laughter fading into a devilish smirk.

"Oh-ho! Someone's all hot and bothered!" taunted Shego.

The obvious innuendo made Mik blush profusely. Kim, even though her cheeks were flush as well, looked utterly confused why they were.

"What does that mean?" asked the redhead. She turned to Shaundra in confusion. "She says that all the time, and I still don't get it."

Shaundra gaped at her while Shego began cackling victoriously. Mik's entire face was beet red, motions suddenly sporadic while she launched a counter attack at Shego. Because she was so flustered, her coordinated attacks were no longer as such. They were jerky and sometimes didn't even make it all the way through their arc before Mik was throwing something else out blindly. It actually caught the thief unawares, for she was far to used to dealing with perfectly accurate blows. With the timing and flow off, Mik was actually making several hits and pushing the green skinned woman back at a steady pace. Attention once more on the fight, Shego tried to retaliate with a heavy combo of attacks that were nothing but brute strength and plasma.

Mik shocked her by ducking below all the attacks and slipping up close, inside Shego's guard. Mik quickly struck a series of sturdy strikes with nothing but her index and middle finger. Startled, even though the power behind the blows weren't as power packed as her fists, Shego leapt away to figure out what the heck the new strategy was. When she landed, however, she staggered.

"What the hell was that?" she bellowed. Her joints and limbs felt oddly like jelly. She flexed and was shocked to find herself feeling slightly weaker and quite sore for such light attacks.

Mik smirked, suddenly enjoying the fight. She waved a cocky "come hither" motion. "What's the matter Firecracker? Had enough already?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FIRECRACKER?" Shego shot forward, teeth pulled back in a snarl.

Her speed managed to catch Mik off guard, and she quickly used that to her advantage to throw a solid kick into the blond's chest. Mik flew backwards. She managed to control her fall and land on her feet, but she was definitely a little winded after a kick like that. Grunting, the blond refused to let her smirk drop.

"Is that all you got, _Firecracker_?"

Shego charged, hands glowing threateningly as she began a series of sweeping motions with her claws. "Listen here you little Demon! I-am-_not_-a-firecracker!"

"Little Demon?" Mik arched an eyebrow at the thief. She grinned. "I kinda like that."

Sneering, Shego shot out a sweeping kick. Dodging it easily, the blond lashed out with a kick towards the black haired woman's head. Said woman dropped down, braced her hands on the ground, and kicked her heel straight up and for Mik's chin. The blond leapt with shocking precision, making it look like Shego's attack had connected. Shego, feeling the lack of impact, scowled as she twisted her body around to try attack the blond while still in mid air. Mik, however, surprised her again by kicking her legs up into the air and completely twisting around the arm while using it as a brace. Then, tightening her hold, Mik threw her weight back and dragged Shego off balance. With the thief's footing lost, Mik twisted yet again and sent her heel sailing for Shego's temple. Alarmed, Shego barely had time to bring her other hand up to block the blow before she was sent tumbling across the ground.

Standing up, the thief dropped her fighting stance and just stared at the blond.

Sensing the change, Mik hesitantly lowered her guard a bit. "What?"

"Not even Shaundra could have taught you that," Shego said flatly.

Everyone stared at Mik while she stared at Shego.

"Matrix," Mik quipped, whipping out Kim's sunglasses and putting them on in one fluid motion. She calmly turned with an air of dismissal and started walking again.

"Bullshit!" Shego quickly stormed after the teen. "That never happened in the movie! Any of them!"

Mik remained indifferent as she kept walking. Shaundra and Kim just trailed after them, speechless.

"Same principle," intoned Mik.

"It is not! That was totally different! You made it up!" retorted Shego. Even though she was obviously angered, she didn't once attack the blond.

"What are they talking about?" whispered Kim.

"… A movie?" answered Shaundra. She shrugged. "I only saw the previews for it. I have no idea what they're referring to."

"So what if I made it up?" argued Mik, still not looking anywhere but ahead.

"How the heck do you make up a move like that?" argued Shego. "You just don't decide 'this might work!' on the spot!"

Sighing, Mik finally glanced balefully back at Shego over her sunglasses. "I can and did. I win, you lose. Get over it."

"No way! You SO did not win you little Demon! KIMMIE!"

Kim startled. "Y-yes?" She prayed they didn't draw her into the argument. She still didn't have any idea what they were talking about.

"Masochist means that someone _enjoys_ it when pain is inflicted upon them! They get a sick sense of perversion out of it!" Shego smirked evilly. " A _very_ sick perversion."

Shaundra and Mik both visibly paled as soon as they noticed Kim go rigid.

"Shit." escaped both their lips at the same time.

Instantly, Shego found herself standing alone with the redhead and two telltale retreating forms disappearing into the distance. One of them even seemed to have a tail waving from the back of their head.

"To-use…such… language!" growled a voice.

Shego flinched. Turning, she found a very weird aura surrounding Kim. "What's wrong Kimmie? Surprised your little clone knew that word and you didn't?"

"UNFORGIVABLE!" roared Kim, throwing her head up and kicking a rock so hard it lodged itself into a tree quite deeply.

Shego whistled. "Dang Princess, that was impressive."

Before she could say more, Kim's eyes locked on her and Shego gulped. Last time she'd seen Kim look anything like that, it was when Mik was pretending to be her and kicked her into that tower.

Without another word, Shego tore off after the other two.

"GET BACK HERE! COWARDS!"

Glancing back over her shoulder, she found Kim was right on her heels. She bit back a very un-thief-like squeal of terror and ran faster. 'I am not a masochist!' strangely, seemed to be repeating itself in a disjointed mantra in her head. With the sounds of the enraged redhead behind her, it only made the mantra louder and more panicked.

_Then why did you goad her?_ questioned a nasty little voice in her head.

"Shut up!" growled Shego.

A very inhuman growl behind her actually made her yelp and she put forth another burst of speed, shouting curses about innocent redhead teen heroes.

* * *

**A/N: **Spur of the moment idea. It just amused me too much to not post it. I was thinking of not posting it, but it makes me laugh, so I can't not post it! (yay for double negatives!). So, the actual plot of the story got put on hold a little longer. Toodles!


	7. Getting Organized

Mik sighed as she ducked under another large leaf. In front of her, Kim was tromping through the jungle with a silent determination that kept the other three following at a good distance behind her. Whatever conversation the redhead and leader of FUED had talked about, it didn't seemingly have a good affect. The redhead had become silent and taciturn, while the dark haired woman had withdrawn into herself, preoccupied with her own thoughts.

Usually, that wouldn't bother Mik. However, her current "mission", and how unsavory most of it seemed, when her two role models were so serious, it didn't bode well… for anyone. Either they were hiding something from her, or she wasn't seeing what the problem was. Either way, it was frustrating her to no end. Shego, still fuming over her beating at the hands of an irate redhead, was ignoring everyone. Every so often the black haired woman muttered a string of curses, but they were so soft that you couldn't decipher them. Both Kim and Shaundra chose to "not hear" the outbursts, and proceeded as if there wasn't a giant elephant standing over them.

After several moments of silent debate, Mik growled to herself and kicked a branch so hard it snapped.

The loud noise got everyone's immediate attention.

"I know that you're all pissed off or in your own little world, but we have a serious issue at hand and nobody is addressing it!" she roared, throwing her hands up in agitation.

Shego snorted. "Yeah, kill me or drag me kicking and screaming to GJ to do the job."

Mik shot her a withering glare. "That subject is already on the table. YOU are the only one keeping it unresolved. I'm talking about whatever secret _those_ two are keeping. Obviously something is bothering them, but they haven't had the decency to tell the rest of the class." If it was one thing Mik hated most, it was secrets. Her entire existence was a secret, and she had no other option but to keep it that way unless she wanted to be destroyed or dissected. Because everything she was revolved around said secret, she severely disliked having any others hanging over her. It was unnerving and made her edgy. "I understand you two might have your reasons, but I'm not fond of being in the dark."

She said it roughly, hoping they understood the meaning behind her words.

Luckily, Kim ducked her head in shame and Shaundra had the decency to shift uncomfortably.

"It's not like that," Kim finally admitted, letting loose a heavy sigh. "We were debating what we'd do if people realized that… that you were my clone. Plus, I was scolding Shaundra for teaching you…certain things." She gave the taller woman a notable glare.

Shaundra chuckled uneasily. "Yeah, and somehow she thinks _I'm_ the only one to blame for that."

Mik immediately feigned innocence. "What do you mean?"

Shaundra gave Mik a sharp look when Kim smacked the older woman on the arm.

Mik smirked behind the redheads back, earning a similar one from Shego.

"Well, that solves that," comments Mik, quickly dousing the smirk when Kim turns around. "That still doesn't solve the problem of finding this last person. We're running out of time. If you two haven't seen this other person, it means something bad could have happened to them."

Kim frowned and cupped her chin in her hand. "That's true. Though this environment isn't that dangerous for us, someone inexperienced would have a difficult time surviving here for any extended period of time."

Shego snorted, but remained silent.

Shaundra sighed and looked up into the canopy of trees spread overhead. She was starting to miss the sky. "Well, let's review. We've been going in a rough spiral motion since we all got together. We, unfortunately, didn't start that pattern at the edge of the dome where we should have. That means we've a lot of uncovered ground that we're going to have to check if we don't find the person in our narrowing uncovered area."

"That's also assuming this person isn't moving around and has made a camp somewhere," reminded Kim. She frowned. "And there's been no tell-tale signs of an encampment anywhere." She glanced at Shego and Shaundra. "Did you guys wander around this entire time?"

Shego huffed. "Yeah right. It rains here. A lot." She sneered up at the canopy overhead.

Shaundra shrugged. "She's right. It does rain a lot. I've created several small shelters though. I've been traveling around in hopes of bumping into someone, so I haven't made anything permanent. Most of the time I destroyed whatever I made." She grinned. "Old habits die hard, ya' know?"

The three, minus the green skinned thief, shared a quick smile.

"Okay, Shego, was yours more permanent?"

"Doy! I wouldn't be caught dead here for months without someplace comfortable to sleep."

Mik grinned. "Doy."

Shego sneered at her. "Shut up."

Kim rolled her eyes. "In any case, that means Shego's is well hidden and won't be easily found. So, unless this other person is very experienced, we should be finding their shelter somewhere obvious."

"If they aren't collecting rain water like I have been, they would probably camp near the river," commented Mik. She frowned. "Do either of you two know the layout of this place well enough to find it?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "I explored, but I didn't want to run into any unwanted trouble. I stuck to my portion of this place."

"I haven't been here long enough to get a good enough idea how things are situated." The brown haired woman shrugged.

Mik nodded absently, as if she'd already expected this. "That means we might have to backtrack. I can get us back to the river, but we're going to lose several days of travel."

Kim looked a little hesitant. "Do we have enough time to backtrack? I wasn't there for the original briefing. How long were you given to complete this mission?"

Mik shrugged. "Fifty days. We should be fine, but we've already spent six days in here. Most of our travel has been aimless. That means that we have forty four days to find the last person."

"Did you get any ideas on how large this place is?" asked Shaundra. "I was blindfolded when they brought me."

Mik shrugged. "They kept me in the cargo area, away from windows and such. I have no idea how big the place is."

Kim grinned. "It's big, but not that big. It's a typical small island. Forty four days should be plenty of time to restart our search from scratch."

Mik frowned slightly. "We need a way to track our movements though. With the canopy of branches overhead, it's impossible to judge our location by stars or even by the sun."

Kim's grin only widened. "I figured we'd be in this type of situation. That's why I brought this!" She whipped out something from her pocket.

Mik squealed. "My GPS!" She snatched it out of Kim's hands before the redhead could protest. "Oh, how I've missed you!" Mik snuggled the palm sized object, earning several disturbed looks.

"I missed you too," intoned a robotic voice, causing the other three to leap back in alarm.

Mik giggled happily. "I can't believe I didn't think of taking you on that mission! I bet I could have snuck you in here if I had!"

"It is all right," answered that robotic voice. "From what I have heard, they would have scanned you for any objects other than the knife."

Shaundra looked at the blond warily, obviously unnerved. "Mik, exactly when did you get a talking GPS?"

Mik grinned widely, missing the looks of alarm from her traveling companions. "When the Tweebs put that AI in Kim's car, I took the base code and made an AI for myself. I thought it would be fun to have a GPS that argued back when it gave faulty directions and I cursed at it!"

Shego burst out laughing, startling everyone but Mik. Shaundra looked caught between being amused and disgruntled. Kim… well, all Kim heard was the cursing part. She stalked right up to Mik and bonked her upside the head.

"Cursing at it?" she said darkly.

Mik looked sheepish. "Well, mostly just back talking. It was really funny to see that pilots face when we were headed to Spain!" She started snickering. "He was white as a ghost when GP started commenting on how it would be shorter to travel via jet than charter plane."

Kim sighed and shook her head. She shot Shaundra a glare. "I blame you."

"WHAT?" blurted the brown haired woman. "Why? _I_ didn't do _anything_ to get such an idea stuck in her head!"

Kim snorted. "Yeah right. You're always yelling at your GPS."

"That doesn't mean I want it arguing back!" protested the older woman. "I hate the thing enough already!"

"Right, like that day it said to turn and you did and drove us into a lake," remarked Kim dryly.

"It said turn!" defended Shaundra.

"And you were foolish enough to listen, even though it was obvious there was a lake," responded Kim.

"I would not make such a rudimentary mistake," intoned the GPS in Mik's hand, sounding surprisingly haughty for a machine.

"Can it you stupid computer! I bet you'd do the same damned thing! Like that dirt road that didn't exist in Singapore!" Shaundra growled threateningly at it.

"Quite the contrary. I would give perfect directions. It would be faulty driving that lead to disaster." The robotic voice sounded smug now.

"Don't you take that tone with me!" roared Shaundra. "You contraptions always lead me to the wrong damned place!"

The verbal war continued between the two, even as Mik started leading them back the way they'd come.

Shego was laughing so hard she was starting to worry she'd have to go take a dive behind the bushes. Maybe it wasn't so bad to hang around these three for a while longer.

* * *

-Continued Omake!-

Mik was staring unabashed at the twitching form of Shego. After Kim had chased them all down and gave them "just" punishment, Shego had been the one to get the brunt of it. After all, once all the green skinned woman's comments were explained, which mostly consisted of outlining what innuendo was, Kim made sure to make up for lost time.

Boo, being the cute adorable and curious creature she was, was poking the twitching woman with a long stick. The creature knew instinctively that the woman disliked her and didn't want to get hurt by getting too close. That, however, didn't save the green skinned woman from being prodded with said stick. It made the random twitching more prominent, and Boo found it entertaining.

Mik grinned, ignoring the sting of her bruised cheek and split lip. She'd managed to cool Kim down after begging for forgiveness, and no, she wouldn't deny that she was begging. Kim pissed off was a scary thing, and she knew that she would have to deal with the brunt of Kim's irritation once home if Kim's bad mood persisted. Luckily, her begging won out and Kim had stalked off while dragging Shaudra by the ear behind her. This left Mik alone with the unconscious form of Shego, who had yet to awaken after the traumatic event.

Mik snickered, remembering the look of pure horror that crossed Shego's face when Kim had upturned her hiding spot. Let it be said, no place was safe to hide once Kimmie was pissed off, even for professional thieves.

Having rooted around in Kim's bag of tricks, Mik had found several fun toys that weren't exactly useful for much out here in the jungle. Taking advantage of that, Mik pulled out the black Sharpie and grinned wickedly as she hovered over Shego's prone form.

After several minutes of long tedious work, Mik sat back with a satisfied sigh, wiping the sweat from her brow. Smirking, she clicked the lid back in place and dug around in Kim's bag once more. She pulled out the Kimmunicator with a sinister smirk.

Shego vaguely saw two flashes of light with her blurred vision as she started coming to consciousness. In the distance, she heard the sound of Kim and Shaundra returning. Silently, she hoped the redhead had finally calmed down. She couldn't believe the petite cheerleader had packed such a wallop. After all, they were usually tied in their fights. To lose so easily, without any sort of retaliation, well it was quite a blow to her ego.

She was just sitting up when the two walked into the clearing Shego lay sprawled in. She looked at them right as they looked at her.

And they burst out laughing.

Startled, Shego blinked a few times before growling at them. "What? What is it? Why the hell are you laughing?"

Shaundra pointed a shaky finger at a puddle. Shego darted for it.

Only to stare at her swollen face riddled with inky black designs that looked tribal. In bold letters on her forehead it read, "Firecracker".

"YOUR DEAD!" roared Shego as Mik took off laughing through the trees.


	8. Vacation Time! Sorta

This was it… Mik had been waiting for this moment for seeming eternity. With slow deliberation, she reached out. Her weight shifted, blindingly aware of every possible sound, every hair trigger that could be tripped. Her breath was silent, her eyes wide and unblinking. It was the moment of absolute tension… of perfect action…

*thlop!*

"GAAAAAH!" Shego lunged from her seated position and started dancing around wildly. "Get it off! Get it off!" She heaved with all her might and flung a good foot long slug quite far into the jungle spread out all around them.

Mik was laughing hysterically on the ground. As soon as Shego recovered enough from scrubbing herself clean of slime, she proceeded to chase Mik in dizzying circles around their newly improvised camp.

Kim sighed in irritation as Shaundra's eye twitched.

"Ya' know, it was amusing how well they got along the first few days… Now I'm starting to want to strangle them." Shaundra's eyes narrowed as Boo assisted Mik in pelting Shego with squishy fruit they'd been carrying past their freshness.

Kim watched wistfully. A part of her was getting fed up with the childish behavior, but she knew that as she was Mik's only outlet for energy, Mik was in sore need of more attention that Kim could possibly give. It wasn't healthy to only have one or two people you could actively socialize with. Kim still had a feeling she was mucking things up entirely. She was desperately trying to sort things out, but it'd been a difficult road. She was still coming to terms with the gray areas in life. She'd gotten so used to everything being laid out in black and white she'd never taken notice of the things that never could possibly fall strictly into such neat little niches.

Prior to Mik's introduction it was like living in a world of strictly three colors. It was all fine and dandy until someone (Mik) forced you to notice that there were four more colors that existed and you just weren't seeing them staring you in the face the whole time. You were so overcome by this paradox that you had to gape stupidly a long time just to come to terms with this new experience, let alone adjust and start actively working with it.

They'd also spent the last two and a half weeks searching down their missing person. They hadn't figured out who it was, and they still hadn't seen signs of anyone else besides themselves in their travels. There were no tell-tale campfires or left over shelters that they could identify. They'd been trying to keep a strict pattern to search in, but with the following antics of Mik and Shego, the rest of the party was getting sorely impatient and ready to be rid of the island and each other.

It didn't help that they were still debating how life would turn once Mik was introduced to the real world. Kim was already talking with Shaundra when the "children" were distracted. She was trying to formulate a plan of action that would allow Mik to finally mold herself into society properly without having to consistently panic about being discovered. It was still a strong factor, but it was deterred enough that if they pulled off the ruse here, then she was relatively certain it would mean she'd have to make Mik look like she'd always been part of society like any other normal girl her age. Discovery was less high if people were not thinking about looking so close to home.

Shaundra had voiced some relative ideas, but they were forced to concede the point was moot until they got off the cursed island.

"Seriously Kim, if you don't start trying to tame your pet, I'm going to start-"

Kim rolled her eyes and interrupted before Shaundra could even finish her threat. "Look who's talking! You have done absolutely nil about your sister! She's just as much to blame as Mik! SHE'S the one who decided to start pulling a prank war! You_ know_ how Mik gets with those kinds of challenges!"

Shaundra's mouth snapped closed with an audible click. She huffed and turned to find a laughing Shego racing away from a mud splattered Mik who was waving something around in the air with a rather wild look in her eye.

The elder of the group sighed. "Why is it now that they both decide to relieve childhood fancies? We already have enough on our plate as it is…"

Kim shrugged, poking their purposefully smoking fire with a stick. "I figure this is the best place to let loose. No one is here to witness anything and there isn't a lot they can destroy out here that won't grow back eventually."

A huff answered her comment.

"DINNER!"

The shout was unexpected and startled the two at the fire greatly. This was only doubled by the fact that something came sailing out of the air to land squarely in dirt between them.

On instinct alone, both of them leaped away and into defensive positions immediately…

Only to blink at the two large dead fish where said object landed.

With disturbingly good timing, both turned to glare heatedly at Mik who chuckled innocently and turned to dash back into the jungle as Shego gave a shout and chased after her again.

Shaundra growled a moment before thumping back down into her seat. "I swear she's turning out too much like me. I'm starting to lose my patience."

Kim snorted. "What patience?"

Shaundra shot her a withering stare. "I'm serious. I've been out of the loop from my company long enough to know it's going to get ugly quickly and I _need_ to be there to help keep things from getting ridiculous. If what Mik says is true, things are about to get more dicey than usual. We need to start preparing. There's a lot more hang-ups in this than Mik's future."

A rock whizzed by Shaundra's head and could be heard pinging loudly off a tree a good six yards behind her. Kim's hand was outstretched, face set low in a scowl. "Do not play lightly with such comments. I won't forgive them."

A small staring contest ignited between the two of them and burned with a disturbing intensity before Shaundra huffed and looked away. She ran her hand through her hair. "That's not what I meant, and you should know that by now. By no means do I take any less merit in the importance of Mik's life, but I'm not stupid enough to blind myself ONLY to that problem. I have to worry about the fact that she needs a safe place to keep said life supported. Heck, we ALL need said place to keep existing. I've worked my whole life so people like Sharee and my family can live safely and comfortably. I will not see what I've worked hard for fall apart because I wasn't keeping track of ALL of my priorities."

At first, the redhead said nothing. She poked the fire several times and listened intently to the popping and crackling noises it issued. Her lips were pressed into a firm line, and her entire posture was stiff.

A puff of air on Kim's ear made the redhead's spine snap to attention.

"Relax…" whispered Mik. She calmly took a seat next to the redhead as said redhead looked ready to beat her over the head with the stick in her hand. "You look far too serious over here. Personally, the only hard part has been left on Shego's shoulders, so I don't see why we can't enjoy ourselves in a much needed vacation."

"This isn't the time or place," commented Kim, jaw still clenched as she counted backwards from ten in her head.

"Why not? At the moment, we're having zero luck with anything but the mission on hand. There isn't any way to make it go progressively faster, and it isn't like we have any interruptions." She turned to Shaundra. "I also know that you've trained your people well enough to handle the battle stations until you've returned. Give your people some credit here. You've gone on long missions before. They're used to being able to handle small emergencies until your return."

"But this isn't small," pointed out Shaundra, blue eyes locking with Mik's in a moment of seriousness. "I like to joke around, yes, but this is on a larger scale than we've ever managed before."

"And guess what? One of your key information finders is already digging into things. He will know to immediately go to the rest of your team once he has enough material that court action is possible. They will take all possible steps to mediate things until you arrive and start helping collaborate a more steadfast and firm plan to nip this in the bud." She looked pointedly at the woman she often used as a role model besides her… err the "original" her. "There's nothing any of us can do productively because when I left there wasn't enough information to start formulating deterrent plans with. Charging back right now will only make you sit and twiddle your thumbs and drive everyone insane with your impatience. The way I see it, this is an awesome chance for a break before things hit the fan."

Kim was watching Mik with a simple yet thoughtful expression. "I hate to agree with relaxing, but it isn't a bad idea. We have been covering a lot of ground lately, and there is a degree of 'hurry up and wait' that we're stuck dealing with in regards to any other missions we can actively participate in." She sighed. "The idea of completely relaxing has been out of my realm of possibility for quite a while. It'd be nice to slow down."

"Exactly," Mik said calmly. "We've all been in a tizzy lately. We've earned a break."

Shego rolled her eyes, having listened in but hovered in the background because she "didn't want to be part of the group".

"And what if we find the missing person tomorrow?" the green skinned woman sneered. "Your vacation would be cut prematurely short."

Mik grinned, earning a groan from both Kim and Shaundra.

"Firecracker, I _do_ believe you just said 'we'."

Shego, having decided she was tired of chasing the blond around, merely lobbed a fireball at her with a verbal hiss.

Mik laughed as she easily dodged said fireball and made faces at Shego. Boo happened to be copying her in a rather humorous fashion, earning a peeved yet dismissive look from Shego.

Shaundra chuckled despite herself. Even if it tended to be irritating, as the two had been at it non-stop the past two and a half weeks, it was good to know that someone got under Shego's skin enough she forgot herself and got lost in the moment. It was both calming and saddening.

"She has a point, o' apprentice," remarked the brunette.

Kim shot the woman a glare for the apprentice comment.

Mik grinned at all of them. "Hey, if the missing person is safe, who's to say we can't enjoy ourselves a little longer? They did have a specific pick up day anyway. Unless we want it to be REALLY obvious how Kim got here, we need to pretend we're actually stranded. They're no doubt curious as hel-" She coughed mid word at Kim's scowl. "Ehem, they're probably dying with curiosity figuring out how Kim got to the island in the first place. They're probably consistently running radar, scans, and discreet flights and boat patrols at consistent intervals. If we want the jet to remain secret, we need to leave it hidden until after they think we've all left the area. It also is the safest way to introduce me. We can easily say I hijacked an aircraft from Shaundra's hangar to search for her, and once I realized that Kim had her location, we stormed off without thinking. We had engine trouble just before arriving, and had to bail before the aircraft crashed into the ocean."

Shego looked at her like she'd said something along the lines of one of Drakken's rants.

A hesitant gaze between Shaundra and Mik had Kim occupied.

Shaundra stared flatly.

Thirty seconds later, Shaundra was grinning wickedly at her. "Totally believable! That also helps with her identity! We can explain the connection between the two of you, AND pretend she's been hidden from society on account that after adopting her after one of my missions, I've tried to keep her secret so she would be safe!"

"GJ will probably try niggling you into a false identity near Kim if that's how we want to play it," warned Mik. "They've been discussing how to keep you 'contained' for quite a while now. They don't have proof, but they're worried enough that they'll jump this chance and nuke the heck out of it."

Shaundra's grin grew. "PERFECT! I'll be pulling the wool over their eyes yet again! Darling, you're a genius!" She proceeded to glomp the blond and give her a noogie.

Shego was the only one to notice the glaring glimmer of hope that dawned in Kim's eyes. It was all she could do not to go over there and offer some biting comment as some sort of twisted blessed distraction. It was almost gut wrenching how much desperation pooled into those green eyes at the mere mention of Mik possibly being able to live openly with her. Shego hadn't seen that type of desperation in years… a LOT of years. It was a little disconcerting to see it in someone else, and someone she'd been actively trying to hate for years.

A part of her had been tempted to blab the Clone's secret just for the sheer "in-your-face!" value it offered all parties present. It had been a nugget of pure gold, in her opinion, to finally have enough blackmail against the redhead that she could put them on even footing after that tower incident. However, it was disturbing that her psychology courses were proving to be adeptly correct. The more time you spent around people, especially in a twisted sense of close quarters in a jungle, you started to feel… attached. Attached, yeah, that's the word she would use. Plus, the damn clone was proving to be of great entertainment value… when such attentions weren't directed at her. When targeted by such shenanigans, it was oddly infuriating and distressing at the same time. She was able to let out all of her frustrations when tearing after the Clone, and it had oddly helped tame the rage that had been building the past five months.

The point being, Shego was finding herself more internally conflicted with her lack of true anger. She'd been trying to build it up into a frightening crescendo that bulldozed the damned redhead into next year! Only to find herself building a healthy dose of tolerance and understanding that should never have been able to flicker into any sort of flame.

Grinding her teeth, Shego stood up and smashed a fist on each of the two's, most irritatingly intriguing people she'd ever met, heads. Purely on principal for making her doubt her resolve, of course.

The two squawks of indignation made her smirk as she disappeared into the shadow of the trees.


End file.
